Fateful circumstances: a Dr Horrible continuation
by Nival Vixen
Summary: COMPLETE! The Evil League of Evil aren't stupid. They know Dr. Horrible wouldn't kill anyone and they know he's in love with Penny. After Dr. Horrible's failure with his Freeze Ray, Bad Horse decides to take Penny's fate into his iron hooves. Penny's life after death becomes so much more interesting when she's revived in E.L.E's headquarters. Acts III-VIII. Billy/Penny
1. One factor changes Penny's fate

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible, it all belongs to JJMZ (Joss, Jed, Maureen, Zack.

**Summary:** the Evil League of Evil are evil, not stupid. They know that Dr. Horrible wouldn't kill anyone, and they know that he's in love with Penny. After Dr. Horrible's failure with his Freeze Ray, Bad Horse decides to take Penny's fate into his iron hooves.

**Notes:** it's been done before, but this is my take on what could have happened during/after Act III of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. As always, I'll try to make it as original as I can. Constructive criticism is accepted and welcomed.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_...

...

Act III - One factor changes Penny's fate.

...

"My colleagues, we seem to have a problem.  
>Dr. Horrible applied to the Evil League of Evil once more.<br>This his third time attempt in three years.  
>Another failure must not occur," Bad Horse's Chorus sang.<p>

"His Wonderflonium heist was a success.  
>However, the application of the Freeze Ray,<br>Was disappointing to say the least.  
>Now, assassination is his only way."<p>

"We have been watching him,  
>It seems that he is in love.<br>Love is a difficult emotion,  
>And may still his glove."<p>

"If Dr. Horrible does fail again,  
>It will look bad for the E.L.E.<br>We are known for being evil, not failures,  
>Therefore, we must deal with Penny."<p>

The chorus men finished their song, and Bad Horse neighed loudly, waiting for any to disagree. When nothing was said, he stamped his iron hoof on the ground. Their decision was made.

...

Penny smiled at Captain Hammer as she closed her phone and walked towards him. "So they say we'll have blankets and beds; we can open by Monday, thanks to you."

"Thanks to me," he said arrogantly, grinning.

Her smile faltered slightly, and she made some excuse of making the beds up as she left him standing there. Hammer shrugged to himself and sat down, leaning back on the chair.

"Penny?" a man's voice called to her as she walked away.

"Yes?" she asked, trying to keep her tone pleasant.

"This came for you. The note says it's from Billy," the man said, holding out a brown paper bag for her.

That gave him her attention and Penny's cheeks went red as she took the bag and looked inside it to find two frozen yoghurts. "Thank you. Did he drop it off himself?" she asked, but the man was gone before she finished her question.

She glanced over at Captain Hammer, but he was sitting down while everyone else was rushing around trying to make this ready in time for Monday morning. He had barely lifted those strong hands of his for more than a minute to do anything to help!

Penny clenched the brown bag, then counted slowly to calm herself. Making a decision, she looked at her watch. The laundromat was open, of course, she just hoped she hadn't missed Billy... She wanted to invite him to the Caring Hands' homeless shelter opening tonight.

...

"This is perfect for me, so they say.  
>I guess he's pretty okay.<br>After years of stormy sailing, have I finally found the bay?"

The laundromat door opened and Penny couldn't help but look to see if it was Billy. She sighed softly when some stranger walked in.

"There's no happy ending, so they say.  
>Should I stop pretending,<br>Or is this a brand new day?"

The frozen yoghurts were starting to melt, and she took the lid off hers, starting to eat slowly.

...

Dead Bowie left the building quickly, watching as Penny left soon after him, the brown bag clutched in her hands. He followed her, waiting until he had seen with his own eyes that she had eaten the frozen yoghurt.

His part of the mission was done. Now it was up to Professor Normal (_Professor Boring_, he thought with a grin) at the shelter's opening tonight.

Whistling _China Girl_ under his breath, he hurried back to E.L.E headquarters to change back into his usual outfit, and report to Bad Horse.

...

Penny wasn't feeling well at all. Her forehead was starting to burn up, and her hands felt clammy. But Captain Hammer convinced her to get up on the stage with him, saying that he needed her to be there with him, and had she written his speech yet?

She'd handed the small cue cards over, the ones she'd spent all of her afternoon writing, and forced herself to smile as people filtered into the building and sat down, watching her and Hammer on the stage.

"... And in just a few minutes, we'll unveil the statue of the man himself. Justice has a name, and the name it has besides _justice_, is Captain Hammer. Ladies and gentlemen, your hero," the mayor said and applause sounded as Captain Hammer stood up.

He shook hands with the mayor, moved behind the podium with a broad smile, pulling the cue cards from his glove.

"I hate the homeless-" Captain Hammer began. "-Ness problem that plagues our city. Everyone should have the basic... You know what? I don't need tiny cue cards."

Penny heard a rumbling in her stomach, and even the mayor looked at her quizzically. _She __**really**__ felt sick. Now to top it all off, Hammer wasn't going to use the cards she'd spent hours preparing_?

"When I fell deeply in love with my serious, long-term girlfriend, Penny. Wave your hand for me."

_**Deeply in love? Serious, long-term girlfriend?**__ He'd never mentioned being in love with her, and they'd only been dating for a week! She didn't even know his __**name**__. Was he delusional_? Penny was embarrassed, but she raised her hand with a slight wave, wondering what Hammer was doing, especially in front of all of the media that had come for the opening.

"There she is. Cute, huh? Sort of a quiet nerdy thing, not my usual, but nice."

Now Penny didn't know if she was sick because of her stomach and fever or because of his words. _Why couldn't he just read off the cue cards so she could go home and rest? He knew she wasn't feeling well!_

"Anyway. She turned me onto this whole _homeless_ thing, which is terrible. And then I realised I'm not the only hero in the room tonight. I'm not the only one who's fighting...

"It may not feel too classy, begging just to eat.  
>But you know who does that? Lassie!<br>And she always gets a treat."

_Did he just compare the homeless to a __**dog**_? Another lurch in her stomach, and she let out a small whimper of pain that wasn't heard above Captain Hammer's singing.

"So you wonder what your part is,  
>Because you're homeless and depressed.<br>But home is where your heart is,  
>So your real home's in your chest.<p>

"Everyone's a hero in their own way,  
>Everyone's got villains they must face.<br>They're not as cool as mine,  
>But folks, you know it's fine to know your place."<p>

_**Know your place?**__ What on earth was he talking about_? Penny was almost positive that her head was on fire. She tried to block out what Captain Hammer was singing about, but it became difficult to do moments later...

"So I thank my girlfriend, Penny.  
>Yeah, we totally had sex.<br>She showed me there's so many,  
>Different muscles I can flex."<p>

Penny's eyes widened as everyone seated looked to her. Even the mayor was looking at her. They were all judging her, and now she felt more than embarrassed, she was mortified. _How could he tell everyone that personal and private information_?

"There's the deltoids of compassion.  
>There's the abs of being kind.<br>It's not enough to bash in heads,  
>You've got to bash in minds."<p>

Standing, she tried to keep the smile on her face as she moved to leave and escape their judging eyes. She wiped her clammy hands on her shirt discreetly.

Hammer's song stopped suddenly, and a shiver went up Penny's spine as a low evil laugh sounded. _It was a nice contrast to the heat in her head, actually_...

Another song began, a more sinister one, one sung by someone who sounded familiar. Penny ran up to the stage and got the mayor leave, ignoring the fact that she didn't feel well. She hid behind the chairs, trying to push away the burning feeling in her head, and the twisting in her stomach. Maybe she could distract whoever this villain was long enough for Captain Hammer to save them.

"It's gonna be bloody,  
>Head up, Billy buddy,<br>There's no time for mercy.  
>Here goes no mercy."<p>

Yet he was being merciful and looked undecided, even as the ray gun behind him faltered. Penny stood up more (_Billy buddy?_), ready to run out to stop whatever foolish plan Billy - _Dr. Horrible_ - was acting out.

The gun stopped completely, and she let out a small gasp as Hammer punched Dr. Horrible - _her Billy buddy_ - so he flew back across the room.

She watched in disbelief as Captain Hammer - _the one who was __**supposed **__to be the merciful hero_ - pointed the death ray down at Billy, his foot on his chest stopping any escape. Penny began to run forward to stop him, knowing it was helpless, even as Hammer squeezed the trigger.

She wasn't sure what happened, but Penny found herself against a wall, pieces of the death ray embedded in her body. _Was it too late to recognise the irony_? She watched as Billy's eyes widened and he ran to her, while Captain Hammer ran away.

"Penny? Oh. Penny. Penny."

"Billy? Is that you?"

_Was breathing and talking always this difficult? At least her head wasn't on fire anymore_.

"Penny. Hold on. Oh no, oh no, no, no, no.

"Are you all right?

"Hold on.

"It's okay; it's okay."

She tried to smile again, but that seemed too much.

"Captain Hammer will save us."

He was the hero, he was supposed to save them no matter what. But it was Billy, the villain, who was here beside her. And Penny found that she didn't mind that so much, even as she died for trying to save the villain from the hero.

...

Dr. Horrible carried Penny's body and placed her on the stretcher. He barely saw anyone else, already slipping into a world in his mind.

The ambulance officers pushed the stretcher quickly, putting it in the back of the vehicle. The ambulance drove off and they looked to each other in confusion when they realised that neither one of them were driving. _What would anyone want with a dead body_?

The media didn't care about the stolen ambulance, nor about the person who had been put inside of it. All were too caught up in the defeat of Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible's victorious rise to fame.

...

End of Act III.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.


	2. Where anger alights

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_...

...

Act IV, pt. 1 - Where anger alights

...

Penny gasped as she woke up. Well, she supposed she was awake. _Hadn't she died_? She was fairly certain that she'd felt her heart stop and taken her last breath. _Was she in heaven or hell_? There was something white directly above her, but it seemed far more solid than clouds were supposed to be.

She found that she couldn't move, her arms and legs didn't do a thing no matter how much she tried to move them. _Was this a normal occurrence for the afterlife_? She didn't really have any valuable sources of information about it, so Penny stopped trying and patiently waited for an angel (or demon) to arrive.

Penny frowned slightly as feeling returned to her body. She was able to move her head, and soon found that she was in a white hospital room. Not a cloud in sight.

"It's wonderful to see you finally awake. We were starting to worry," a feminine voice said.

Penny tried to sit up to see the speaker, but she was bound to whatever she was lying on.

"Stay calm, it's all right. You've just been temporarily paralysed so you wouldn't hurt yourself after waking up from the dead. Can you speak?" the woman asked, sounding curious.

A face appeared above Penny's and her eyes widened as she recognised Fury Leika. She struggled to scream, cry out, but her voice was still paralysed.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," she said, rolling her eyes at Penny's panic. "The others thought I'd be the most sympathetic and least likely to accidentally hurt you. For whatever reason," Fury said, sounding less sympathetic than Penny would have liked.

"I still say you let me in. She's cuter than my little China girl," a voice filled the room, sneering. "I'll persuade her to love me and..."

"Shut up, Bowie. Do not make me come out there!" Fury yelled, glaring somewhere Penny couldn't see properly. "You're lucky I'm not allowed to kill you."

"I can if you would like, Fury dear," Professor Normal said, sounding pleased about the idea.

"Get lost, Professor Boring. So, Fury, how about you and me on that date?"

"I'd sooner let Ira live than date you," Fury yelled, and suddenly, four women dressed as bridesmaids appeared. _Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue_...

There was some cussing over the speaker, and Penny figured that Bowie had left because the women disappeared moments later.

Licking her lips, Penny tried to speak one more time. "Why?" she managed, her voice little more than a whisper.

Fury stopped yelling and turned to look at her, seeming surprised. "Did you say something?"

"Why me?" Penny asked again, her voice fading immediately.

"Because of Dr. Horrible, of course... You'll see why soon enough," Fury said. "Rest now, you need to regain your strength."

Penny managed a brief nod and closed her eyes to sleep.

...

She woke up some time later, and was pleased to find that the temporary paralysis had worn off completely. Penny flexed her fingers and toes, relief flooding her as everything seemed to move properly. She sat up carefully, feeling over her body to ensure she really was all right. She winced on seeing the large bloody holes in her shirt. Apparently, no one had thought to dress her in different clothes after she'd died.

"I still say we call her Bloody Penny, all that red hair's ..." Fury was saying, her words stopping short when she saw Penny sitting up on the bed.

Penny recognised the woman beside Fury Leika as Snake Bite, and tried not to shiver. Everyone knew what that disco ball staff could do, and she'd just come back from the dead, she didn't particularly want to die again so soon.

"Bite, go tell Tie to get the hell out of the building. If she gets happy near her, we're going to have to bring her back from the dead again, and then she might as well be Frankie's bride," Fury muttered.

Snake Bite gave a hiss-like laugh, but left the room anyway.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. Try not to get too happy about it, Tie-Die can sense happiness a mile away. She'll go nuts, and we only just managed to replace all of the furniture," Fury said.

Penny nodded briefly.

Fury pressed a button on the intercom by the door. "Hey, get some food and water up here. She's a vegetarian, so bring a couple bottles of vitamins too."

She let go of the button without waiting for a response. Fury seemed to notice Penny's questioning look, and sighed slightly. "I hate men, and the chef is a man... Kiev's not the brightest tool in the shed, but he's the best evil chef there is."

"He's not going to poison me, is he?"

"Why would he do that?" Fury asked, seeming confused.

"Because he's evil?" Penny replied.

"He's evil, not a murderer. It's Bad Horse who likes the murdering schtick, and after the initial murder some need to get accepted into the E.L.E., like your Dr. Horrible, no one really does it. It's just more scaring the shit out of people to get what you want. Unless they're men, then they deserve whatever happens to them," Fury added angrily.

Behind her, four bridesmaids shimmered, but didn't become completely solid.

The door opened and there was a terrified squeak as the chef saw the bridesmaids. He left the tray sitting in the room and ran off before Fury saw him.

The bridesmaids disappeared as Fury lifted the lid to reveal the food. "It looks like lentil soup. If you catch so much as a hint of meat in there, tell me and I'll kill him for you, okay?"

Penny simply nodded in reply. _She'd rather eat a bit of meat than be responsible for someone's death_!

"Hey, don't look so down, I was joking about the killing him thing. I already said he's the best chef, and it took a lot of bad take-out to even get him. Lighten up a little," Fury said with a grin, wheeling the tray to her.

"Oh... Um, thank you."

She really had no idea what to say. This was all too surreal; and Fury seemed completely at odds with the way she was portrayed in the media.

"Fury Leika?"

"Call me Fury," she interjected.

"Fury... What happened after I died? I mean, there were reporters at the homeless shelter, and I'm sure that my death wouldn't have gone unnoticed. It wasn't, was it? Oh, it was, wasn't it? They were all so wrapped up about Captain Hammer losing that they didn't even know I was **dead**," Penny said, her voice raising with each angry syllable.

"Whoa, cool it!" Fury yelped, hurrying to douse the napkins that were aflame. "Really don't like Captain Hammer, do you?"

"He killed me," Penny stated, her face paling slightly when she realised what she'd said.

Fury had just told her that Billy - or should she call him Dr. Horrible? - had needed to kill someone to be accepted into the E.L.E. She assumed it was herself (Billy wouldn't kill anyone, she knew he wouldn't), and if the E.L.E. thought that he'd killed her too, she'd just admitted that it was actually Captain Hammer who'd killed her... _Was it possible to be fired from the E.L.E._?

The soup started to boil, lentils popping loudly. Fury wasn't sure she wanted to touch Penny to shake her out of it, but the noise seemed to distract her.

"We know it was Captain Hammer. We're evil, not stupid," Fury said with another grin. "Eat your soup, and I'll organise for the Evil Librarian to bring you all of the media stuff relating to you. It was quite a big deal, even if none of them knew your name."

Fury left her to eat in peace, but the moment she was gone, Penny wanted to call her back, not wanting to be awake and alone so soon after her ... well, death. _She'd been killed by the good guy, and brought back to life by the bad guys, and the media hadn't even bothered to find out her name after she'd been killed_! She didn't know what to think about any of it, and her head was starting to hurt from the strain. She ate the soup, surprised that it actually tasted nice and was free of meat. Taking some vitamins, Penny gulped down some water (it was warm, like it was cooling down after just having been boiled), and laid back on the bed to sleep.

As she drifted off to sleep, Penny wondered when she'd see Billy again, and if he knew that she was alive.

...

"Normal? What the hell did you put in her frozen yoghurt?" Fury demanded.

The bridesmaids were behind her, but Professor Normal didn't seem fazed by their presence.

"I was given strict instructions by Bad Horse; I put in exactly what he wanted."

Fury rolled her shoulders slightly and calmed herself enough to make the bridesmaids disappear. She left Normal muttering in his lab (something about rhyming chemicals and nightmares), and went to find the Chorus.

Apart from meetings, the Chorus were usually the closest anyone came to Bad Horse. No one other than the Chorus was allowed in his stable without permission (the last person who'd gone in had died just from hearing his whinny).

"Bad Horse was strict and precise with his instruction,

Normal's plan worked, which showed his dedication," the Chorus sang, their words trailing off into nothing but mumbled incoherency.

_Great, the Chorus were drunk again_. The only thing that stopped Fury from killing them was the fact that Bad Horse would then kill her in retaliation. She'd signed a bloody contract (she meant that literally, by the way) stating that she wouldn't kill any members of the E.L.E. Which also ruled out her plans to decapitate Dead Bowie and set fire to his body.

Fake Thomas Jefferson was having an argument with Bowie in the room adjoining the bar. There was heated words between the two, and Bowie called FTJ a kiss-arse, like always, which lead to the other man storming out of the room in a huff.

Fury rolled her eyes at them, wondering when FTJ would man up and just kiss Bowie already. All of the unresolved sexual tension was making her nauseous.

Wanting to get away from all of the testosterone (if she didn't find Ira soon, she was going to break her contract, and there were worse things than death when at the hooves of Bad Horse), Fury headed back down to where Penny was. At least she wouldn't have the desire to kill her. Well, not as much, it was obvious the girl was still on the side of "good", no matter how angry Captain Hammer made her.

She heard the fire alarm before she smelled the smoke, and Fury hurried down the corridor to find it in flames, dark red and burning angrily. The door to Penny's room was filled with flames, but even from where she was, Fury could see the redhead sitting on her bed. She was surrounded by newspapers, but they weren't on fire somehow.

"She's lucky that fire hasn't reached those papers, or I'd have to Bar her from the Library. Forever."

Fury repressed a shiver at the Evil Librarian's whispered threat. The Pink Pummeler had returned a DVD a day late (he was part of the Henchmen Union, and there was something about reciprocal borrowing with other Evil Organisations. Fury had thrown out the welcoming pamphlet soon after joining the E.L.E.'s compulsory Library, so she didn't really know or care), and he'd been Barred by the Evil Librarian. Apparently, FTJ was still having nightmares about the Evil Librarian's eyes.

The Evil Librarian waited at the edge of the fire, watching the newspapers carefully.

Fury went further up the corridor to use the intercom. "Kiev, bring me up some popcorn kernels, would you? ... Yes, I know it's the fire alarm! ... Just bring it, or so help me, I will set my maids on you!"

She grinned when he yelped something, the intercom static now that he'd gone to do her bidding.

Kiev soon arrived with a large bag of popcorn kernels. Fury took them from him without a word and threw the whole thing, bag and all, onto the fire in the doorway. The resulting noise sounded like firecrackers. Tiny firecrackers, but firecrackers nonetheless.

When the Evil Librarian had woken her soon after she'd gone to sleep, Penny had tried to get back to sleep. But the newspapers next to her were waiting, mocking, telling her that no one cared about her death. She'd grabbed the stack of papers and started to read them. It was so ridiculous and false that she wanted to scream.

_They got it all wrong! Captain Hammer was the one who killed her, not Billy! Not her Billy buddy! (She refused to call him Dr. Horrible, he was and always would be Billy to her._) _Captain Hammer was in therapy, apparently, and too distraught over losing against Billy that he'd probably never fight crime again. Distraught over losing against Billy. Not about losing her... She'd __**died**__! He had killed her, she had died, and he was upset over a __**fight**_?

Pop! Pop! Pop-pop-pop! POP!

Penny looked over at the noise (and the delicious smell), the flames and smoke disappearing the moment she was distracted. The fire alarm stopped seconds later, the remaining smoke dissipating into nothing.

The Evil Librarian left the doorway, satisfied that nothing had burned. Fury entered the room, her ball and chain dragging along the floor as she looked at everything carefully.

_Not even a speck of soot! It'd be nice to have someone who cleaned up after themselves for once_, she mused, thinking of all of the destruction and chaos Tie-Die created if someone simply laughed nearby.

"You're reading something about Captain Hammer, I presume?" she asked, grinning at Penny's bewildered expression.

"Did I do that? Oh, god, I didn't hurt anyone, did I? Is the building all right, or is this the only room left standing?" she asked, worried about the fact that she was worried about a house (_come to think of it, was she even in a house_?) of super villains.

Fury chuckled and patted her shoulder gently. She drew her hand away quickly, burned by the contact. "Everyone ... uh, everyone's fine," she muttered, blowing on her hand to ease the burning sensation. "It was only the doorway that was on fire. You'll need to work on controlling that anger," Fury said.

Penny bit her lip, a frown furrowing. "Here, I've still got some water, that should help," she said, upset that she'd hurt Fury, even unintentionally.

She grabbed the plastic cup, yelping when it melted in her hand instantly.

"It's all right. I've got some salve in my room. Just do yourself a favour, and don't set the papers on fire. You don't want the Evil Librarian to punish you," Fury warned.

Penny immediately drew her hand away from the papers, wondering what made the Evil Librarian so evil to scare a member of the Board of the E.L.E.

"Why don't you get some rest? I don't know what sort of hold that power has over you, but it's probably tiring," Fury said, sympathetically.

When she'd woken up after that stupid radioactive dove shat on her, she'd had trouble controlling the poison in her bouquet. She'd knocked herself out more than once before learning to control it properly. And don't even get her started on that incendiary rice!

(_Oh, fine, the others probably were right when they said that she'd be more sympathetic to Penny's situation than they were. She couldn't imagine Tie-Die even being able to get past her own rage to converse with Penny_.)

Penny was quiet, but thanked her for the advice, and lay down to sleep once more.

...

End of Act IV, part 1.

I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading!


	3. Forces set in motion

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_...

...

Act IV, pt. 2 - Forces set in motion

...

Billy took off his goggles, pulling the black gloves off tiredly and slumping into his large chair. He looked over to his computer and web camera, but looked away just as quickly.

He had no desire to talk, answer mail (most of it was fan mail now; he'd never admit it, but Billy kind of missed the ridiculous challenges from Johnny Snow), or even be sociable to his adoring public. He'd done enough of that at the party in the E.L.E.'s headquarters, after all.

In fact, he should be there now, unpacking his things, or getting a mail redirection set up at the very least. He no longer lived in this apartment, after all. But Billy couldn't get the heart to leave yet. It was this same emotion that had him walking three blocks out of the way, just so he wouldn't have to see the laundromat.

_You didn't kill me, you know that, Billy buddy_, Penny whispered in his head.

Her voice was becoming more and more frequent, so much so that he sometimes forgot that he had his own voice in there.

(The last heist had only been a success, but there had been a moment, just a moment, when he swore he saw Penny in the cowering mass of bodies. It had just been another redhead, a different person all together. Penny was dead.)

"I know, I still feel guilty though. It was my death ray."

_You didn't pull the trigger though, did you?_

It was bad enough that he was answering the voice in his head, but to have the voice answer back? _**Definitely** a bad sign_.

He'd gone over the tapes from the laundromat's security system (he hadn't even had to go in as Dr. Horrible; he'd just mentioned something about being a reporter, and they'd all but handed the tapes over. Ridiculous excuse for security...) and found every scene that featured Penny, from her sitting with him and laughing over a frozen yoghurt, to the one on the last day, her sitting alone and waiting for him.

If only he'd known, he would have gone to her...

_No, you wouldn't have_. Now, _that_voice was his.

"Yes! I would have gone to her!"

_Just like you went after her when you were trying to get the Wonderflonium? You could have talked to her way back then, and none of this would have happened. Penny would have dated you instead of the corporate tool, and she would still be **alive**_**.**

Billy breathed in a guilt-racked shuddering motion. _No, he hadn't fired the trigger, but he had still set it all in motion. He'd **killed** Penny_.

He curled up on his chair, hugging his knees to his chest.

...

Moist sighed when he saw Billy curled up on the chair in his old apartment. Most of his things were still on shelves, boxes open and not packed, and some days, it seemed like Billy didn't even want to move to E.L.E.! He'd been dreaming of this for years, but over the death of one girl, he'd completely turned his back on everything he'd ever wanted.

Sure, Moist got the fact that Billy had been in love with her, but even Billy had said how good Penny was, and how it would never work out between them. He had a PhD in Horribleness, after all.

(_Dear God, they had to think of a new catchphrase. If Billy wasn't careful, he'd end up with that one, and he'd go down in history as "that guy who thought he was funny, but really wasn't. In fact, he wasn't all that evil, either! Let's just forget about him all together._")

Pressing his hand to Billy's forehead, Moist did his magic (_thanks Dad, the humidifier worked great!_he thought sarcastically), and soon his friend woke up with a shudder, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

"I've told you not to do that, Moist!"

"Hey, it was the only way you were going to get up. Come on, the removal guys will be here in three hours! If you don't have this packed up by then, the E.L.E. won't be able to transport your secret lab to your new place."

Billy mumbled something and turned away.

"What was that?"

"Don'twannago."

"If you just said that you don't want to go, I will make your entire wardrobe moist. You know how hard it is to get that damp smell out, don't you?" he threatened.

"I said I don't want kung po," Billy muttered reluctantly.

"That's what I thought. Pink Pummeler's downstairs to help with packing. He also brought some CD's so I suggest you hide your CD player before he starts singing show tunes."

"Pummeler, really?" he asked with a slight grimace.

"It was either him or the Purple Pimp, and I didn't trust him not to run off with half your stuff. You _know_he's got ties to the Indigo Mafia," Moist replied. "I'll be back in a few minutes. You'd better be ready, Billy."

Billy sat up with a scowl when the door closed behind Moist's exit. He could see the sense in what his friend was saying, but he ... he didn't want to move on. This was his home, the same place he'd imagined bringing Penny to, seeing her reaction when he told her the truth about who he was (okay, none of those imaginings had ended well, with most of them involving her hand, his cheek, and a red handprint), or at least sharing a frozen yoghurt together on this very seat, in this very room, in this very apartment.

_You're pathetic, you know that?_

Billy wasn't sure if that was himself or Penny's voice.

_Sit up, move out of this place, get your butt into gear, and get your revenge on Captain Hammer! He's a blubbering mess, weak, at his most vulnerable, and **he** was the one who pulled the trigger that killed Penny_...

Not knowing whether he wanted to or was just following the command in the voice, Billy sat up in his seat.

When Moist and Pummeler arrived upstairs to find Billy packing enthusiastically. Pummeler frowned at Moist, who had just told him that Billy would probably need to be cajoled into getting off the damned armchair.

"I don't get it either. Let's just help him before he loses this moment of sanity," Moist muttered, hurrying inside and steering clear of anything paper-based.

...

"Okay, buddy, you're all set up. Need help getting rid of the boxes? I can pulp 'em down if you want," Moist offered, looking to the pile of boxes next to Billy's armchair in his new apartment.

There was a cough behind him, and Moist turned to see Dead Bowie. _Dead Bowie, right there and in the flesh! Dead flesh? Was it still considered flesh if they were dead_? Moist wondered.

"Bad Horse wanted me to give you this. The Chorus are in the barn sleeping off their latest alcohol-induced dance competition, so there'll be no singing to accompany it. Unless you'd like me to sing?"

"Oh, can you sing _Dancing in the Street_? That's my favourite," Moist said, grinning a little.

Dead Bowie didn't seem impressed.

"Okay, thanks Moist. You've been a great help. I'll call you," Billy said, pushing him out of the room quickly. "I can read it on my own, thanks for the offer Dead Bowie," he added with a slight smile.

Nodding, Dead Bowie left the apartment as well, and Billy shut the door behind them, locking it as well.

Opening the letter, he read the contents (humming slightly, as if the Chorus were actually there and singing it, despite what Dead Bowie had said), and followed Bad Horse's instructions to find his secret lab.

The E.L.E. had already set up his bookcase and some of his furniture by the time Billy and Moist had made it down to the headquarters and up to Billy's apartment. They'd dropped Pummeler off at his place along the way, who was too terrified of even being in the same building as the Evil Librarian to come with them.

While Billy was grateful that he hadn't been the one to drag his bed up the stairs, or lug those bookcases into the room, he was slightly suspicious that they'd been so helpful with it. As soon as he found his secret lab, he'd devise something to check the apartment for bugs and other recording devices.

_Are you always this paranoid, or is it just a side affect of being evil_? Penny asked, as he pulled a few books down.

He almost answered out loud, but then realised the room could still have a camera watching him at this very moment. Billy wondered if the camera could see Penny. Taking off the book _The Idiot's Guide to Being Evil_, he saw a switch behind the book and pressed it. The circular plate that he was standing on moved the entire bookcase around until he was inside his secret lab.

Dr. Horrible stepped forward, an evil grin on his face at his empty lab. His equipment and lab materials were still packed on the other side of the apartment, but he couldn't wait to fill it and start making evil designs and plans. Ruling the city wasn't too great a feat. Not now when Captain Hammer was at his weakest and there were none brave enough (or foolish enough) to take his place.

...

"Here, I brought you this."

Putting the newspaper aside, Penny looked over to Fury, her eyebrows raising when she saw the multi-coloured shirt in her hands.

"Tie's clothes fit you better than mine would, and I figured you'd be more comfortable in something that wasn't covered in blood and shrapnel-holes," Fury said, ignoring her look.

Penny thanked her, taking the shirt from her. Fury turned around, allowing her to change in some semblance of privacy.

"I would've brought it to you sooner, but we're all running around today, what with Dr. Horrible moving in and all."

"Billy's here?" she asked.

The urgency in her voice must have startled Fury, because she turned around to face her, frowning slightly. "Yeah, he just got up to his apartment. No one's told him about you yet, so you can't go wandering around, okay?"

Penny nodded, even though she was sure she was starting to get cabin fever. With all of the drugs she'd had, the different sleeping times than she was used to, and the lack of natural light, Penny had no idea how long she'd been with the E.L.E.

_Had it been only a few days since her death? A week, months even? Did Billy think about her? And was it odd that she hadn't even given much thought to the fact that she'd actually died_?

"I'll come back with lunch once Kiev's got his butt into gear and actually cooked something. There's vegetarian pasta or salad today. You have a preference?"

"Pasta, if Kiev doesn't mind cooking it."

"Nah, he likes cooking for everyone. Tie can't even go to the lower level where the kitchen is without trying to destroy something. It's funny to watch," Fury said with a grin.

Penny shook her head, grinning briefly. She wondered if it was a good or bad thing that she was agreeing with something that a real bonafide evil person was saying. Next thing, she'd be saying that Bad Horse's death whinny was like music to her ears.

"I'd better get going. We're all going to welcome Dr. Horrible into the house of evil," Fury said.

"Okay. Thanks again for the shirt."

"It's fine, don't mention it. _To anyone_," she added with a glare.

Penny nodded, waiting until Fury had left the room to return to the newspaper she was reading about Ira Goldschitz's engagement to Fury.

When Kiev brought her lunch an hour later, Penny cajoled a conversation out of him, and was surprised at how much she enjoyed hearing his story. He wasn't completely evil (something about a hierarchy and he was a step below evil, which suited Kiev just fine) but he was bad enough to not be able to handle ultra-super-happy people.

Penny wondered if she should mention that she was usually one of those people, but decided that the food was too good to say something and risk losing it.

When she'd finished eating, Kiev had cleared her plates, suggesting a few vegetarian recipes that he thought she might like. Most evil people were carnivores and as a chef, he liked to experiment with all kinds of foods and flavours, not just meat. Without hesitating, Penny had offered to let him experiment on her. Kiev had pulled a waiver out of his apron pocket seconds later, offering a pen to her. Penny had smiled briefly, a loopy scrawl on the dotted line, wondering exactly what she'd just got herself into.

...

End of Act IV.

I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading!


	4. Decisions and choices

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_...

...

Act V, pt. 1 - Decisions and choices

...

Billy was going insane. That was the only explanation for it. First he was hearing voices - _Penny's voice_ - in his head, and now he was seeing her everywhere. It was absolute insanity, and he had to do something about it. _Maybe it was because he'd been in the E.L.E headquarters for ten days straight without leaving, and all of the time inside had made his mind snap_?

Although, it hadn't been a waste of time, really. He'd spent three days creating the bug finder, and another two slowly disabling all of the hidden bugs in the apartment. Dr. Horrible had also reversed one of the cameras so that he could use the E.L.E's own security system to see who was doing what. It was amazing at how thorough - or paranoid - they were. There were hundreds of different cameras simply _everywhere_, and he hadn't even finished going through them yet.

But, back to his impending insanity. _Penny_. He was seeing her everywhere. He'd gone into the kitchen, and was sure he'd seen a flash of red hair, but Kiev had all-but pushed him out of the door before Billy could have a proper look. There was a strawberry frozen yoghurt - Penny's favourite flavour - in Professor Normal's not-so-secret laboratory (his secret-secret laboratory was at his house). In the library, he was positive that he'd heard Penny's voice - and the Evil Librarian laughing, but that was something he was trying to _forget_ - and when he'd come around the corner, the Evil Librarian seemed to be laughing at Garfield's miserable day in the paper. Even when he'd walked into the E.L.E. boardroom, conversations seemed to die completely. Fury seemed to be watching him all the time, and Billy had no idea if it was a good or bad thing that her bridesmaids weren't with her.

Stepping in front of his bookcase, Billy pressed a button on his remote - _the switch was so old fashioned and far too cliché. Anyone looking for a secret lair or laboratory would go straight to the bookcase, but no one would take notice of an extra remote_ - and Dr. Horrible stepped into his laboratory.

He had to do something, and something was exactly what he would do. Settling down onto his armchair, Dr. Horrible switched on the TV that had the security feed running through it. If Penny was in E.L.E., then he would find her. If she wasn't, and she was just in his mind, then maybe he'd go see that evil psychiatrist downtown. Apparently he had some sort of healing procedure that involved Chinese burns. _Actually, on second thoughts, the shrink that Captain Hammer was seeing might be a better option_.

...

Another two entire days passed before Dr. Horrible discovered that Penny really was alive. Even then, it was after an incident that had simply been confusing rather than enlightening in any way.

He was ashamed to admit that he'd been distracted by the soap opera that was the E.L.E. headquarters, with Fake Thomas Jefferson lusting after Dead Bowie, who really wanted Professor Normal, who was arguing with his wife about mortgage payments and school tuition, and really wanted nothing to do with Dead Bowie. Tie-Die and Snake Bite seemed to dance around each other whenever Fury Leika wasn't in the room. Dr. Horrible had caught Tie-Die and Snake Bite making out after the Chorus left a bottle of wine in the common area, and recorded it for future blackmail.

Through the videos, he had also discovered that the Chorus - Jordan, Jack, and Zeke - had actually been a famous band in the '90s, but after trying to stab one of their audience members with a microphone after mentioning sparkling vampires, they'd had to turn evil in order to support themselves. They'd been Bad Horse's Chorus for the past eleven years since he'd escaped The Farm, and the weight of singing people to their deaths had started to take its toll, so they'd turned to alcohol to escape and cope.

The Evil Librarian had a stack of Garfield comics that she liked to draw on, and Dr. Horrible wondered if she was breaking her own rules by doing that. Kiev was usually in the kitchen, and it seemed that he enjoyed to sing while cooking. Dr. Horrible hadn't heard of any vegetarians in the E.L.E., but he seemed to be making a lot of vegetarian meals lately. He filed that piece of information away for future reference and continued searching the camera feed.

It took more time than he'd be willing to admit, but Dr. Horrible eventually realised that whenever Fury Leika wasn't with Snake or Tie-Die, it became almost impossible to find her. She wasn't in the usual areas, her room was empty and then he'd spotted one of the bridesmaids heading down a corridor that was usually empty. It had taken five camera switches to follow the bridesmaid properly, and then an illegal hack into the room that Fury was currently occupying. He doubted anyone would care about his hacking into a security camera considering he already had access to the rest of the building. He couldn't access the room that she was looking into, no matter what he tried, and Dr. Horrible came to the conclusion that it mustn't have a camera inside.

"You _really_ have to calm down," he heard Fury say.

She was standing behind the glass of the room, and beginning to sweat profusely as the temperature increased with Penny's anger. The only reasons the alarms weren't going off was due to them being disabled earlier in the week after four episodes like this in one day. Bad Horse had used his death whinny on the sugar-delivery boy because of it, and the Board had heard about it constantly until Billy - _Dr. Horrible_, she reminded herself - came into the room.

Fury had found herself watching the newest E.L.E. recruit more often, beginning to see him the way Penny described him. Dr. Horrible wasn't evil; he was simply playing pretend because he thought that this was what he wanted. He'd even hesitated killing Captain Hammer, despite the threat on his life (or manhood) if he didn't assassinate someone in order to gain entrance to the E.L.E.

One of her maids offered her a small box, and Fury moved to the doorway, throwing the incendiary rice into the raging fire. The rice exploded instantly, the noise distracting Penny but it seemed that it still wasn't enough to put out the flames. Fury frowned; it had worked the last four times. _What the hell had she been thinking about or reading to make this sort of fire_? The flames reached where she was in the doorway, but Fury didn't back away, planning on waiting until her box refilled to throw more rice into the room.

"Leave," Penny said, a wave of heat pushing Fury out of the doorway.

Her maids threw themselves on top of her to protect Fury right before the flames escaped the room. The fire split in two, each part moving on either side of her without making a mark on Fury's body, before rejoining and continuing down the corridor, burning their way towards the exit. The maids disappeared when they deemed her safe and Fury stood up, looking to where the flames had gone. She looked into Penny's room only to discover that the redhead was no longer there.

Up in his secret laboratory, Dr. Horrible used the remote to switch to the outside camera feed, tracking the fire's progress. It seemed to have a will of it's own, the element going against every physics law and chemistry equation when it moved around a corner.

_Just what the hell was that fire_? Dr. Horrible wondered, losing sight of it when it was out of range from the E.L.E. cameras.

...

Travelling in a bright pink car was not something that Moist enjoyed doing, but since he couldn't take the bus to the E.L.E. headquarters, and didn't have his license since kept ruining his test pages with nervous and power-induced moisture, it was something he just had to live with. Especially if he wanted to see Billy now that he was part of the E.L.E.

Moist looked out the window, wishing that Pummeler didn't have to play show tunes quite so loudly while he was driving (he switched the pink boxing gloves for pink driving gloves). He frowned on seeing blue and red flashing lights ahead, and quickly turned off the car stereo, ignoring Pummeler's immediate protest.

"Pull over. Quickly," he said, urgently enough to make Pummeler pull over to the side of the road.

Moist slid out of the car, making his way over to the fire engines. The firefighters were dousing a large fire that was on the side of a building, defying all logic, and he briefly wondered what would happen if they realised just how close they were to the E.L.E. headquarters.

Glancing down a side alley, Moist frowned when he saw a redhead lying on the dirty ground. He was no hero, but maybe Billy was rubbing off on him, and he found himself walking down the alley, glancing behind to make sure he hadn't garnered any attention from the heroic firefighters (_was it even possible for a firefighter to be evil_?). His eyes widened when he recognised the redhead as Penny, the girl Billy had been in love with.

"Bad Horse's hooves, this is _bad_," Moist swore quietly.

She was wearing a tie-dyed shirt, similar to the ones Tie-Die made. On seeing the black pattern on the side of the shirt, Moist realised that it actually **was** one of Tie-Die's shirts. Due to her hippie fan-base, Moist knew that the selling price of that shirt could probably pay for his rent for the next month...

Thinking of Billy's devastation since Penny's death (_**was**__ it faked? How had it been faked? Was Billy really __**that**__ good an actor?_), Moist sighed and crouched down beside her body, awkwardly checking her pulse. Feeling for a temperature was useless since he couldn't feel anything properly with his constantly-damp fingers. A pulse was there. It was weak, but she was alive.

Moist felt a buzzing in his pocket and pulled his phone out (water-proof, and as top of the line as his poor henchman budget could afford), wondering who on earth was texting him at a time like this. There was a small amount of relief when he saw that the text was from Hourglass.

_Take her to the E.L.E. headquarters_.

The message was short and to the point, but told Moist more than enough. The E.L.E. had something to do with Penny still being alive, and as he dialled Pummeler's number so as not to attract attention, Moist wondered if Billy knew that she was alive.

Pummeler, who had been staring at one of the firemen (_homosexual!_ his gay-dar was screaming at him, it's voice similar to his father's, and he shivered slightly at the phantom pain that accompanied any memory involving his father) turned away when _It's Raining Men_ started playing loudly on his phone.

_So much for not attracting attention_, Moist thought with a sigh and shake of his head.

"Moist? Where are you?"

"Down the alley. I need your help... Yes, I know there are firefighters out there! Just hurry, or I'll give the Evil Librarian your new phone number," Moist threatened.

Pummeler was beside him in moments, and he picked Penny up carefully, not wanting to do anything to change Moist's mind. _He could be __**mean**__ when he wanted to be_.

With everyone's attention on the firefighters, Pummeler and Moist were able to get Penny into the car without anyone noticing. Pummeler kept his eyes on that one firefighter as they passed him, telling himself that he'd find him later.

...

The bridesmaids were further away from Fury than they'd ever been before, and the strain began to make her feel nauseous. They had to find Penny soon; there was no saying what she'd do when she was still weak and as angry as she was.

"She's been brought in, Fury dear," Professor Normal informed her quietly. "Dr. Horrible's henchman, Moist, found her a few blocks away, collapsed in an alley after she set fire to a building."

Fury kept her eyes closed, waiting until Normal had left to open them. She was actually relieved that Penny was safe and back in the E.L.E. headquarters, which she found odd considering that it was rare for her to feel anything other than extreme hatred towards others.

Her bridesmaids were the only ones she really cared about, because Fury knew that they'd be by her side when she finally found Ira. She barely considered Snake Bite and Tie-Die as her friends. They were more there to support her as the only other women on the board of the E.L.E. board. Snake Bite and Tie-Die were usually the ones who calmed her down when she wanted to kill Dead Bowie and FTJ after they started another one of their ridiculous arguments over sparkling clothes and powdered wigs.

It only took a moment for the bridesmaids to be by her side, and Fury levelled the four women with a brief glare. "You were looking for Penny who had disappeared in a blaze of flames. Yet you didn't _think_ to look at the nearest building that had _caught on fire_?"

Blue stepped forward hesitantly. "You told us to keep out of sight. We didn't dare go near the firefighters because then we would have killed them."

She sighed in frustration. Without her, the maids were overcome by a blood-thirsty rage that almost surpassed her own when they were faced with too many men. "Where **did** you look?" Fury asked reluctantly.

"We went to the Caring Hands building," Blue replied.

"Oh... Good thinking."

The bridesmaids smiled brightly at her praise. Down the hall, Tie-Die screamed at their happiness. Fury glowered at her dramatics, and Blue rolled her eyes.

"Come on, let's go check on Penny," Fury muttered.

Thankful that they were forgiven, the maids hurried to follow her out of the room and down to Penny's room in the lower levels.

...

Dr. Horrible hadn't changed the video feed since the fire had escaped the building. He'd sat perched on the edge of his armchair, watching and waiting. He noticed Pummeler's pink car pull up and park in the allocated guest space. He'd almost dismissed Moist and Pummeler's presence as them simply visiting him, until he saw the large pink-clothed man carrying a limp redhead in one of Tie-Die's shirts. _Penny_.

In his shock and excitement, Billy fell off his chair, sliding down onto the floor with a thud.

_Penny. It was really her. She was __**alive**_.

For a long moment, he could do nothing but simply stay in his uncomfortable position on the floor, his brain trying to process the fact that she was still alive.

_Well, Billy buddy? Are you going to get up, or just sit here until I die again_?

Billy glanced at Penny beside him. He wondered if it was a good or bad thing that he could still hear her - _see her_ - in his head like this when she was alive.

Without further prompting, he hurried to stand. His legs were numb from sitting on his armchair for so long, and Billy stumbled out of his secret laboratory.

He made his way down to the foyer, but Moist, Pummeler and Penny were nowhere to be seen. Frowning, Billy turned around, trying to find a clue as to where they could have disappeared to so quickly. Painting, plant, painting, a few lounges, coffee table, plant, another painting...

_Wait, there'd only been two paintings when he first came into the E.L.E. headquarters_, Billy realised, making his way over to the large depiction of Bad Horse. _His eyes seemed to follow you_, he noticed with a barely repressed shudder.

"Hey, buddy. What are you doing?" Moist asked behind him.

"Hey Moist," he replied distractedly. He stopped with a frown, turning to see his henchman standing behind him. "Uh, weren't you just... Nothing... Never mind," Billy said, glancing at the painting before turning his attention back to Moist. "So, why are you here?"

"Came to see you, why else?" he asked, and there was a hint of nervousness in Moist's voice that made Billy immediately suspicious.

"Then why are you sweating?"

Moist gave a nervous laugh, stepping back away from him. "Y'know what? I just remembered I left the stove on. I'd better go make sure my apartment's still there! See you later," he called over his shoulder, all but running out of the building.

For a moment, Billy simply stared after where his friend had run out. Turning his attention back to the painting, his eyes widened when he saw that the painting was no longer there.

Desperate to know what had happened, Billy hurried up to his apartment to check the video feed. In his rush to find Penny, he'd left his apartment door unlocked, and arrived to find it wide open. Stepping inside cautiously, he closed and locked the door behind him. All of his belongings were where he'd left them, the cameras he'd discovered were still disabled, and the bookcase-entry to his secret lab was closed.

Swallowing briefly, he took up the remote, stepping forward and pressing the appropriate button. The bookcase spun and Billy walked into his lab. He barely spared his equipment a glance, looking straight to the TV in front of his armchair. The screen was flickering, and white noise all he could hear. He sank down onto the chair as he realised the implications of this. The video feed was completely erased, and his way of finding Penny destroyed. Not to mention, someone had been able to enter his secret lab, despite him changing the switch.

Gritting his teeth, Billy sat up straighter, determined to find Penny, and to get his revenge on whoever had done this to him.

...

Penny woke up in the room of white, her eyes wide as she sat up with a gasp, memories flooding her mind. _What had happened to her? What had she done? What had she __**become?**_

"Are you all right?" Fury asked, stepping forward to her.

She glared at the white-clad woman. "Stay away from me!"

"Are you still too hot?" she asked, hoping that was the case.

"What did you do to me? Why did you do this to me? **I died!** There was _no reason_ to bring me back! I ... I don't _want_ this! I almost destroyed that entire building because Captain Hammer was mentioned on the _news_! There could have been _children_ inside!" Penny screamed, her body starting to flame. "I was a good person! I **am** a good person! I don't want to do this! I don't want this! Take it away! Kill me again if you have to!"

Again, Fury tried to move to her, but Penny glared, the flames becoming hotter and brighter on her body.

"_Don't come near me_," she hissed.

A blast of hot air from the flames pushed Fury out of the room. The door slammed the moment she was gone. By the time she overcame her surprise, her bridesmaids were already beside her, Old and Borrowed helping her to her feet. Blue and New were standing at the door, the former holding out the bouquet of poisonous flowers and the latter holding her box of incendiary rice.

Fury stood, thanking Old and Borrowed quietly. She shook her head at Blue and New's offered items, heading down the corridor without retribution. Confused, the maids followed her, Blue hurrying to pick up the ball and chain as she made her way into the foyer and up to the apartment level.

Fury couldn't blame Penny for her reaction. She'd yelled at Professor Normal only days ago for what he'd done, after all. When she'd been left at the altar, Fury had hated Ira with every fibre of her being, cursing the male gender with everything she had. Then that dove had turned her into _this_... She couldn't hate the dove for what it had done, because even after the years of still not knowing where Ira was, she still hated _him_ more than she could possibly hate one small bird.

When she'd first awoken to find the bridesmaids with her, the ball and chain attached to her ankle, Blue holding out her bouquet of flowers and New offering the incendiary rice, Fury hadn't wanted to take them either, hadn't wanted the life that accepting the items brought. She still hated Ira, of course (she doubted the feeling would ever leave), but there had been a moment where she'd just wanted to return to her life, to her job as a manicurist, to get away from what had happened and everything she'd become. But she knew that if she had gone back to her life, to her job, her friends, she would never get away from what had happened. Everyone would talk about Ira, everyone would give her pitying looks, and she would forever be the woman-who-was-left-at-the-altar. Fury had made her decision in that moment, and she'd never looked back. She was certain that Penny would have a similar life-changing moment, and she too, would make her choice. But that day was not today, despite what had happened.

"Thank you, Blue," she murmured, taking hold of the heavy ball.

Her bridesmaid nodded in response. Fury could feel their worry inside her mind, and she sighed heavily. Going to reassure them that she was fine, she heard the gun trigger behind her a moment too late, and then she was frozen solid.

Dr. Horrible's low and chilling evil laugh filled the corridor. The bridesmaids were frozen, just as Fury was, and could only helplessly watch as the blonde man hauled their bride into his apartment. One by one, as Fury started to lose consciousness, the maids disappeared.

...

"I don't want to hurt you, Fury, but I will if you don't answer my questions... Hmm... If you don't tell me where she is, I'll hurt you!" There was a moment's pause. "No, too abrupt," Dr. Horrible muttered to himself.

Fury blinked slowly, her brow furrowing in confusion as she she heard Dr. Horrible practising his lines. _Really, that just made it far too obvious that he hadn't thought this thing through_.

Trying to raise her bridesmaids sent a jolt of electricity through her body, and her subsequent groan of pain gained Dr. Horrible's attention.

"Don't bother trying to get your maids, Fury. I've given you a temporary paralysis concoction I found in Professor Normal's lab."

Alarmed, she attempted to move, only to find that he'd told the truth and her limbs refused to obey her commands.

"Where's Penny? Tell me where she is, or I'll cause you multitudes of pain! And I won't remove the paralysis!" Dr. Horrible threatened.

As with Penny's paralysis, Fury found she was able to talk. "You wait until Bad Horse finds out you did this. It's in the contracts that we're not allowed to hurt each other," she said, glaring at him.

"It is?" he said, faltering briefly with a frown. Rummaging on his desk, he found his copy of the contract and flipped through it. "Huh. Well, I won't hurt you then... So what can I do that'll get you to tell me where Penny is? Don't try to tell me that she's not in here, or that she's dead; I _saw_ her with Moist and Pummeler!" Dr. Horrible added, glaring.

"Don't worry, I'm not an idiot. I figure you'd only do this if you were desperate and knew she was alive. If you weren't, I'd send you to the psychiatrist to get your issues worked out," she muttered.

Billy tried not to glare when he heard Penny laughing.

"When my maids get back, you'd better take care. If I can't control them, they might kill you."

"I thought you said we couldn't hurt each other?"

"I _did_ say that, and _we_ can't hurt each other. But _they_ didn't sign a contract," Fury said, smirking.

Dr. Horrible paled slightly, fumbling over his words as he tried to reassure her that he didn't want to hurt her, but if she told him where Penny was, then he'd give her the antidote, and it'd all be over, and please don't let the bridesmaids kill him, not when he could finally see Penny alive again.

Fury rolled her eyes slightly at his inability to even stay evil and scary for a minute. She sighed to herself, blaming herself for watching the amateur too often, and then blamed Penny for making her see him in a different light. Honestly, the boy was barely even touching the surface of evil. He'd probably cried for days straight after Penny had died.

"I can take you to her. But you have to give me the antidote first. It'll be far too suspicious if you attempt to carry me anywhere. That, and my maids may just kill you for carrying me in the first place," Fury added.

Penny - the one in his mind, that is - was sitting by Fury's feet, watching Billy curiously to see if he would agree. Billy didn't see how he had a choice; he wanted to see Penny, Fury would take him, but to do that, she had to walk by herself.

"Okay, fine. But I'm taking this _with_ me," Dr. Horrible announced, picking up a gun from his bench, "and if you try to do anything other than take me to Penny, then I _will_ use it on you."

"What's it do, then?" Fury asked, and by her feet, Penny grinned.

"It's my ..." he paused for a moment, having picked up the gun due to it's size rather than it's functionality, "my transmatter ray gun!"

"Oh, that's just _great_. Don't turn me into cumin, all right, kid?" she muttered.

Dr. Horrible bristled at being called a kid, but eventually set the gun down carefully and took the needle with the antidote. He pressed it into Fury's arm (Penny winced. Or maybe that was him), pushing the liquid into her bloodstream.

"So, how did you find out that Penny was alive anyway?" Fury asked as she waited for the antidote to work, and her paralysis to wear off. "You weren't in the foyer when Moist and the Pink Pummeler came in."

"I hacked into the foyer cameras," he admitted with a hint of pride and a quick shrug.

"Smart move... So, tell me, Dr. Horrible, why did you want to be evil in the first place? There has to be a reason you chose the E.L.E. over the Justice League of Justice."

_The J.L.J.? Are you kidding me? All those weak minded fools and corporate tools,  
><em>_The ones who didn't understand the importance of money and jewels?  
><em>_The same lot who always took orders without asking why or questioning?  
><em>_The very same group who condemn a man because he can dance __**and**__ sing_?

"I've always been bad, and turning evil was just a natural progression," he replied with a shrug.

"Really? So, meeting Penny hasn't changed that in any way? It hasn't made your progression regress to simply being bad with a touch of good?"

He scoffed at the very idea, and shook his head. "Of course not, why on earth would you say that?"

Fury looked down at the binds around her, and then up at the man willing to harm a fellow E.L.E. member just to see a girl again. "No reason."

"The paralysis should have worn off by now. Would you like to try moving?"

Attempting to flex her fingers, she sighed in relief when they moved. Fury nodded at Dr. Horrible and he moved forward, undoing her binds. He struggled with one of the knots before realising that it had been frozen, and hurried to reverse the problem with his gun. (Fury wouldn't admit to wincing and holding her breath in fear. She still hadn't found Ira yet, and had no desire to be killed by a boy's toy gun.) Thankfully, the gun worked and the final rope was removed from her body. Standing quickly, Fury swayed woozily, her head spinning - or perhaps it was the room moving around her. Billy took her arm, steadying her (_he was stronger than he looked_, she thought dazedly), and lowering her back into the chair.

"Just stay there for a moment while I get you some juice. You need to have something before attempting to move," he said, grabbing a remote control.

Blanching slightly, he grabbed another control as well, swapping them around and pressing multiple buttons in an effort to mask which one opened the bookcase. Stepping in front of the shelves, Dr. Horrible disappeared from view. The moment he was gone, Fury's maids appeared. Blue crouched by her in concern, New stroked her hair, and Old and Borrowed adjusted her veil and train.

"I'm okay," she reassured them quietly.

Blue didn't seem convinced, but gave a brief nod. Fury smiled slightly at her youngest maid's concern and closed her eyes to help the room stop spinning.

"Fury!" Dr. Horrible squeaked, making her open her eyes again.

He was being held up by the neck by Blue and New, the latter holding the poisoned bouquet. Old and Borrowed stood to the side holding a glass of juice and small bowl of nuts he'd brought in from his apartment. He was struggling against their grip, but the two murderous and men-hating women were far stronger and enraged than Dr. Horrible.

"Put him down, girls. Do you really want Penny to be angry at you?" Fury added when they hesitated.

Blue and New glanced at each other briefly, and a second later, Dr. Horrible dropped to the floor in a crumpled heap, wheezing and clutching his tender throat.

"Thank you," he breathed, but there was a part of his mind that was already curious about the power Penny had if _Fury Leika's bridesmaids_ were worried at angering her.

She took the juice from Old and the nuts from Borrowed, drinking and chewing slowly as she watched him stand up and brush himself off.

"I wasn't sure what sort of food you liked, but I've got frozen yoghurt if you want that instead?"

"This is fine," Fury muttered.

Taking a few deep breaths, she stood up once more, holding New and Blue for support. When she nodded, they let go of her hesitantly, and she took a few steps to make sure she was steady. Thankful to have movement in her limbs again, Fury rolled her shoulders and shook her arms out briefly.

"All right, let's go, Billy boy," she muttered, stepping towards the bookcase.

He frowned, not liking the fact that she was calling him something so similar to Penny's nickname for him. His desire to see Penny again overcame his dislike, and Billy stepped forward, pressing a button on the remote control to open the bookcase once more.

...

End of Act V, pt. 1.

Hope you liked it!


	5. Revelations

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_.

...

Act V, pt. 2 - Revelations

...

Penny didn't want to leave her room (cell, gaol, prison, whatever it was meant to be), but the Chorus had been insistent. So she didn't have to suffer the humiliation of the three men dragging her out kicking and screaming, Penny finally stood up and left with them.

They'd taken her to the stables, quietly singing of Bad Horse's request to see her due to her recent adventure. Penny wasn't entirely sure if it was a good or bad thing that he wanted to see her so soon after leaving. _Would he punish her for trying to escape_?

One of the Chorus members stayed with her - Zeke, if she remembered correctly - in order to translate Bad Horse's neighs and whinnies, while the other two went to brush him down and ensure his bag of oats was filled. She was somewhat glad that Zeke wasn't going to sing everything; that privilege was reserved for the whole Chorus and people far more evil than her.

A few snorts and neighs sounded, redirecting her attention from her thoughts, and Penny looked to Zeke for a translation.

"Bad Horse would like to formally introduce himself," he supplied, nodding towards the Thoroughbred of Sin.

Realising that he wanted her to step forward, Penny hesitated for a moment. _Was this the end? Would Bad Horse use his death whinny on her so soon after she'd returned from the dead? What was the point of bringing her back to life if he was only going to kill her again_?

Taking a step forward, Penny tried to repress the trembling in her hands. Bad Horse snorted briefly, moving closer so his nose was touching her clenched hand. He felt ... well, fairly horse-like, she supposed. Penny had never petted a horse before, so had nothing to compare it against, but she wasn't entirely sure what she'd been expecting anyway. Her hand began to unclench and she slowly petted Bad Horse, standing mere centimetres away from the most evil creature on the planet. One of the Chorus had slipped her some sugar, and she placed one cube on her hand, smiling when he licked it off her palm eagerly.

_Oh, wow. She was feeding sugar to the Thoroughbred of Sin. This had to be some twisted dream or nightmare, didn't it_? She'd never been a horses-and-unicorns type of girl, even when she was smaller. The life she'd had as a child hadn't exactly warranted any fondness for the animals, not when she'd been so busy trying to keep herself sane and safe. (_But it always seemed that trouble was meant for her_.)

Seemingly pleased with her offering, Bad Horse stepped back, neighing at Zeke.

"Why did you leave the E.L.E. headquarters?"

"I wanted to find Captain Hammer."

More neighing.

"To bring him back to the E.L.E. so he could fight us?"

"No! Well, maybe. I don't think so, though. I ... I wanted to hurt him. It's awful; I've never wanted to hurt anyone this badly before. I mean, I got upset with people in traffic jams, people who littered, telemarketers, all of the usual things, but nothing like this. I could just get away from it all by helping someone else, but I can't even do that now. I hate Captain Hammer so much, and it feels like that anger is just consuming me. I don't want to hate him, I don't want to hurt him, but I hate him so much and I want to put my hands around his throat and _squeeze_," she finished, her chest heaving and her hands burning. _Literally_.

Penny hurried to shake the flames away, forcing herself to think of something else. The complete opposite of Captain Hammer. Billy's face flashed in her mind, and the flames disappeared immediately.

"That's new," she muttered to herself, frowning slightly.

Bad Horse didn't seem as interested in the new development, Zeke translating another question for her. "Fury said that you were reading an article and it set off your escapade. What were you reading?"

Penny looked up, a blank expression on her face as she tried to recall the article. The moment she did, her entire arms lit up in flames. _Billy, Billy, Billy_, she thought to herself quickly, and the flames died. Penny frowned once more, touching her skin hesitantly. Not a singed hair in sight, and it seemed that all that had happened was a slight increase in her body temperature.

A snort from Bad Horse made Penny realise that she still hadn't answered his question. She licked her lips nervously, not wanting to be subjected to his death whinny for something so small as an unanswered question.

"I read an article about Caring Hands; that's the homeless shelter I volunteered at before ... all of this," she said, glancing down to her arms. "Due to Captain Hammer's defeat, the Mayor is withdrawing his support for the shelter and putting it towards reducing crime, since the Justice League of Justice haven't done anything yet. No one's willing to give the shelter any money to keep it open, and all of those people I knew are going to be back on the streets again. All because of _Captain Hammer_," she said, uttering his name like a curse.

"You blame it on Captain Hammer and not Dr. Horrible? He was the one who defeated him, after all," Zeke translated Bad Horse's snorts and neighs.

"Captain Hammer was the one who pulled the trigger. He brought it upon himself, not Billy... I mean, Dr. Horrible," she amended quickly.

Bad Horse was silent for so long that Penny wondered if she'd said something wrong. Apart from telling the leader of the Evil League of Evil that his newest member hadn't actually defeated the hero. Finally, he whinnied, and she sighed in relief at the sound.

"Time to go back to your room," Zeke said, taking her arm and leading her out of the stables.

"My room? So I'm _not_ a prisoner then?" Penny asked.

"We let you go free earlier, didn't we?"

"Well, that's because I was a trail of flames. No one has really explained how that happened, by the way."

"There are sprinklers in every part of the headquarters. If we wanted to stop you from leaving, we would have," Zeke said with a slight grin. "As to your change, I can organise for Professor Normal to have a chat with you. Apart from Bad Horse, he's the one who knows what's happening to you. And - _don't repeat this to anyone or anything_ - he'll be able to explain it better than Bad Horse can," he muttered, glancing over his shoulder as if the wind itself could repeat his blasphemy.

Penny just nodded in response. Zeke seemed appeased by her silence, and opened the back door to the E.L.E. headquarters for her. They were silent for the rest of the trip to her room, but as they came closer, they could both hear talking. Penny froze, recognising Billy's voice, and Fury's.

"You were bound to see him again sooner or later," Zeke said, frowning at her sudden stop.

"I just thought it'd be later. I still haven't come to terms with the fact that Billy's evil, and after everything I yelled at Fury earlier, I'm surprised she's even down here. I don't want to see them, can't we just wait here until they're gone?"

"You know that's Dr. Horrible, right? That guy has more patience than _Gandhi_," Zeke muttered. "He waited at the Superhero Memorial Bridge for _six hours_ just to try and take a shot at Captain Hammer. Of course, if he'd warmed his Freeze Ray up during that time, he wouldn't have needed to kill anyone to get into the E.L.E.," he mused with a grin. "Six hours listening to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Captain Hammer talking about _bridges_. Seriously, the guy's a saint compared to some of the others. Tie Die can't even sit still for ten minutes, let alone sit through an entire monologue about how great superheroes are, and how they're bridging the future for their children's generation or some such bull."

"By the time Captain Hammer finished beating me up and throwing cars at my head, it ended up being almost seven hours of listening to that inanity," Dr. Horrible said, shaking his head.

Fury was a few paces behind him, looking paler than normal, and her bridesmaids were holding her up. Zeke's small speech had carried through the hallway to where they'd been waiting for Penny to return, and they'd followed the sound of his voice to see the very person they were waiting for standing right next to him.

"He threw cars at your head?" Penny asked in alarm.

"Well, technically, he threw the same car at my head twice. But since the first time almost gave me a concussion, and made me see double, it really could have been three cars."

There was a moment of silence as Penny realised that she hadn't wanted to see either of them yet. It passed quickly when she realised that Fury was barely able to stand up on her own merit, and she moved past Billy to help the maids hold her up.

"What happened to you?" she asked, feeling Fury tremble as she took her arm.

"I was frozen, drugged, paralysed, and kidnapped, all so blondie over there could see you again," Fury replied with a weak laugh.

"You did all of that, Billy?" Penny asked, frowning at him. "Just to see me?" she added, wondering why she actually felt somewhat pleased at the thought.

His eye twitched slightly, his head moving to the side, and he nodded quickly.

"Come on, Fury. Let's get to my room, and I'll get Kiev to bring something up for you to eat. You need your strength back if you're going to find Ira."

She yelped in pain as Fury's nails dug into her arm.

"What about Ira?"

Around her, the bridesmaids didn't look much better, anger flowing through them at the mere mention of Ira's name.

"Food first. You won't be able to lift your bouquet like this," Penny said sternly, leading Fury down the hall, ignoring the expressions on the bridesmaids faces.

Their fierce expressions faded when they realised that Fury was still struggling to stay upright, and they hurried to help Penny.

"You drugged and paralysed Fury?" Zeke asked Dr. Horrible, his tone cold.

"Joking, she was just joking," he replied quickly, leaving after the women as fast as he could.

He didn't dare touch Fury, but when they arrived in the white room, Billy called Kiev to bring soup, water, and bread for Fury to eat.

"Will she be all right?" Penny asked, looking at Fury lying there helpless and vulnerable on the bed.

"Fury just needs food and rest," Blue said, seeming interested at her concern.

"She will be fine, just as you were," Old assured her with a smile.

Penny nodded, still keeping her attention on Fury.

"Don't talk about me ... like I'm not here," she muttered, her breathing laboured.

"They weren't doing that. No, nothing like that, not at all," Billy said quickly.

"Shut up," the bridesmaids growled in unison.

He paled and took a step back.

"Get him out of here, would you, Penny? If I fall asleep and my maids are still awake, they'll tear him to shreds."

"Um, perhaps it would be best if you left, Billy. I'll come up to your apartment later, when Fury's all right," she added to appease him.

"Yeah, okay, that's cool. I was going to suggest that anyway," he added, trying to act nonchalant.

"Which apartment number are you?" Penny asked when he didn't move.

"Oh. Oh, yeah, right. That... Apartment 203. Here's Kiev, great. Just great. We'll be going now. Come on Kiev," Billy said quickly, grabbing the chef and forcefully taking him out of the room, keeping his body in front of him slightly.

He didn't trust Zeke to not make him see Bad Horse about kidnapping and paralysing Fury. _He'd probably be whinnied to death_, he thought with a shudder.

"Any chance you'll stop using me as a shield in the next ten seconds?" Kiev asked, glaring back over his shoulder at the blonde man.

"Um, maybe give it fifteen," Billy said, stopping to poke his head around a corner.

"Fine. You've got fifteen seconds, and then I'll slice 'n dice you, and serve you in tonight's surprise stew," the chef growled.

"Wow, you really _are_ evil. Surprise stew is for bachelors and college kids who've run out of ramen," Billy said, raising his eyebrows at him.

"Don't lecture me on food, Doctor Froghurt," he taunted.

"Hey! That's Dr. Frozen Yoghurt to you."

"Only your friends are allowed to call you _froghurt_?"

"Something like that..." Billy muttered, checking around another corner. "Okay, looks like I'm clear, and fifteen seconds are up. Thanks for playing the human shield, Kiev. Love your cooking. Although, we're not, y'know, _really_ getting surprise stew tonight, are we?" he asked nervously.

"You don't like the menu, you make your own dinner, it's as simple as that, _froghurt_," Kiev said, shrugging his hands off his shoulders. He straightened his black outfit and headed down to the kitchen without another word.

Billy continued up to his apartment, checking over his shoulder, and around every corner so many times that his neck began to hurt. He eventually arrived in his apartment, unharmed, and closed the door behind him, locking it quickly. Satisfied that he was safe, he flopped down onto his couch and closed his eyes.

_Penny was alive. Really alive. Actually alive-alive, and while she seemed to have gained some mysterious fiery power, she was alive again_.

_So you're not even curious about what Fury and I are talking about down there_? Penny asked, looking at him in amusement.

Billy's eyes shot open, and he sat up to see Penny sitting at the end of the couch, her legs crossed as she balanced on the armrest.

_And really, you need to clean this apartment up before I get up here. The sedatives in the food work quickly, you know, and I could knock on the door any second now_.

Gulping, he almost expected a knock to sound at the end of her sentence. When nothing happened, Billy looked at the disarray his apartment had become over the past two or so weeks. It was closer to a pig-sty than anything else, and his eye twitched at the absolute mess he'd allowed it to become. He generally kept his living quarters cleaner than this; the only mess he let himself make was inside his secret lab, but _this_? This was as if his lab had exploded everywhere, and then the debris had exploded for a second time. He squeaked a noise of worry and shot about the room, cleaning everything the best he could, and hiding the rest in his lab.

...

Penny waited for a full ten minutes after Fury had fallen asleep before she left the room. Even then, Borrowed and Old practically had to force her out. Old was a lot stronger than she looked, that was for sure.

She went up to Billy's apartment, as she said she would, but on arriving, Penny found that she didn't have the courage to knock. What on earth would she say? _Oh, hi, you're evil, your evil friends turned me into a fiery monster, and I'm battling my own morals because Fury's nice to me_? Yeah, she didn't see how that conversation would be anything **but** awkward.

Inside the apartment, Billy was having a silent discussion with the Penny in his head. He'd seen on his screen the moment Penny had arrived at the door, and had waited coolly on his lounge, waiting for her to knock. Only, the knock still hadn't come.

_I'm probably out there worried and confused and scared. I won't know if you're Billy or Dr. Horrible, and how do I know whether you're not just going to kill me, or something? What if this was some whole elaborate plan to get me here, alive again, just so you can kill me properly_?

_No, that would be stupid. Very stupid. Oh, why aren't you knocking already? Should I just open the door? I'm going to open the door_... Billy made his way to the door, turning around at the last second, shaking his head.

_Look, I turned into that flame thing earlier. I'm probably still really emotional about that right now, and just want to see a familiar face - even if it's evil. Just get a frozen yoghurt from the freezer, and we'll go from there, okay_? Penny said, soothing his fears.

"Good idea. Frozen yoghurt," he acquiesced with a nod.

Billy hurried into his kitchen to get out two frozen yoghurts, and went to the door. He opened it wide before thinking of what he would say, and for a full five seconds, he and Penny simply stood there staring at one another.

"So... I've got frozen yoghurt. You don't happen to like frozen yoghurt, do you?" he asked, trying to sound blasé and funny at the same time, and having no idea if he succeeded or not.

Then, a wonderful thing happened. Penny smiled and stepped forward to him. She didn't even look like she was going to hit him, or try to kill him with a spork.

"I love it, actually," she said, taking the frozen yoghurt from his hands.

"Great. That is so great. Come in," Billy ushered, his shoulders releasing their tension almost immediately.

Nodding, Penny stepped into the apartment, scooping some yoghurt into her mouth as Billy closed and locked the door behind her.

"So ... Uh, how ... are you?" Billy asked, and even without looking, he could tell that the Penny in his mind was rolling her eyes at him.

"I've been better, really. Although, I have been a lot worse, so that's something," Penny admitted with a brief grin. "The yoghurt's helping."

"I'm sorry about ... well, about killing you, and for hurting Fury. I can see that she's your friend, and I don't want to hurt you. Well, anymore than I probably already have... You know what, let's start this over. You like frozen yoghurt?" Billy asked, his sentences running together with his nerves.

"Calm down, Billy buddy. It's all right. I mean, being brought back from the dead isn't as fun as it seems, but I don't look like Frankenstein's bride, so that's a plus," Penny said, smiling briefly. "And you're not the one that killed me. Captain Hammer was the one who pulled the trigger, not you," she added.

Almost immediately, her hands lit up in flames, the frozen yoghurt melting in her grasp and spilling onto the lounge and floor. Billy's eyes widened. _Fire extinguisher, fire blanket, something to put out fire. Water? Sand? Where was a beach when you needed one_? Before he could stand or even move, the flames disappeared entirely, and Penny was sighing, apologising about the mess she'd made.

"Don't worry about it. Happens all the time. Of course, it's more with ray guns than frozen yoghurt, but I think the upholstery can handle it," Billy assured her quickly, going to the kitchen to get some paper towels.

They were both silent as Billy cleaned the lounge and small mess of melted yoghurt, Penny stating that she probably shouldn't hold or touch anything while her hands were so hot.

"So. Fire, huh? What's up with that, right?" Billy asked, his voice an octave higher.

"Uh, yeah. Small side affect of being brought back from the dead, I guess. Anything to do with _Captain Hammer_," she ground out, glaring at her hands intently to keep them under control, "and I go up in flames. Literally, as the case was earlier. Before today, it was usually just my hands and arms. Oh, and my entire room a few times, but I'd never turned into a trail of fire before."

"Do you know what set you off?" he asked curiously.

Penny had to wonder if she was talking to Billy or Dr. Horrible now. She was silent for a moment, watching him, and on seeing the concern in his eyes, she answered. "The Caring Hands homeless shelter is losing all of it's funding, and they'll probably close down soon. Captain Hammer's defeat has resulted in a rise in crime, so the Mayor's pulling out the funds from the homeless and needy, and putting it towards that. It's so stupid though. The J.L.J. should have brought someone in to replace ... cheesy-on-the-outside," Penny breathed, the fiery feeling not as intense now. "But they still haven't. The Mayor shouldn't promise all of that funding, only to take it away again. It's not right."

"Yeah, that does suck," Billy agreed. "But it's all the governmental bureaucracy, and political hoops that he'll jump through just to win another election. He doesn't really care about the people, he just cares that he gets to shake hands with superheroes, and get free dinners when he eats in restaurants."

"He gets free food?" Penny asked, thinking of the amount of homeless people she knew that didn't even have a dollar and went hungry.

_Yet the Mayor, who was the highest paid citizen, who could afford to feed every homeless person three times a day for a whole year, was given free food due to his political status_?

"Okay, seems like the Mayor's not your favourite person either," Billy said quickly when Penny's arms lit up.

He was somewhat grateful that her flames weren't damaging his lounge, since it was his second-favourite piece of furniture. He'd bought the lounge with the loot from his first heist. (_His large armchair was the result of a garage sale that, oddly enough, wasn't actually in a garage_.)

Seconds later, the flames disappeared, and Penny flushed guiltily. "Sorry about that."

"Nothing to be sorry about. I don't like the Mayor either. And, well, as you may already know, the corporate tool is my nemesis," Billy replied.

"Corporate tool?"

"You never watched my blog? Actually, that's probably a good thing..." he added quickly, realising just the sorts of things he'd mentioned on the camera feed. "It's my nickname for Captain Hammer. He's a tool, and a production of the corporate world, ergo, _corporate tool_."

"I like that. Probably more than I should, since I dated him," she added with a frown. "You're driving a spork into your leg again, Billy."

"It's very relaxing, you should try it sometime," he said, his eye twitching.

"Maybe another time, when I won't melt the utensil down," Penny said, then laughed oddly, shaking her head. "It's so weird to say something like that and not be looked at like a freak. I mean, I can melt sporks! I can turn into some ball of fire, and no one's even batting an eyelash! It's weirder than being able to do these things, I swear!"

"Well, for a superpower, it's actually surprisingly common. Usually in relation to anger, some people spontaneously combust, others go postal on their colleagues, and some get so angry that they can suddenly control their burning anger in the shape of a fire. The water power, not so common. I mean, not everyone goes around crying buckets of water. Or if they do, then I've never seen it."

She laughed softly, even as the Penny in his head walked around her critically, as if judging her.

_I've really got to do something about the back of my hair. I really didn't think it looked like __**that**_, she muttered.

Penny frowned slightly, moving to fix the back of her hair as an odd sensation came over her. Billy blinked a few times, surprised at her sudden action.

"So, what are you planning to do about the Caring Hands shelter?" he asked, taking a bite of his yoghurt.

...

End of Act V.

Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it.


	6. Getting answers

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_...

...

Act VI, pt. 1 - Getting answers

...

"Thank you for taking the time to explain this, Professor Normal," Penny said pleasantly.

"Don't thank me for it; the Chorus were the ones who insisted," Professor Normal replied with a shrug, and her expression fell slightly. "Now, what do you want me to specifically explain?"

"I want to know why I can do _this_," she replied, her hand turning into flames one _corporate tool_ thought later. She doused the flames with water from the bench's sink beside her. "I know that I couldn't do it before dying so it had to be something that happened after I died," Penny added.

"Actually, that power manifested _before_ you died. Even if you hadn't been killed by the exploded death ray, you would have died on that day. It's probably a good thing that you were killed by the death ray, because the way you were going to die was not going to be quite so quick and painless."

She simply stared at him for a moment, wondering what on earth Professor Normal meant.

The part-cyborg sighed, realising that he hadn't made much sense to anyone who hadn't had a hand in Penny's death. He'd have to alter the relevant software in his cyborg brain to make his explanations clearer in the future.

"On the day you died, you were given a frozen yoghurt," Professor Normal prompted, watching her.

Penny nodded in agreement, remembering. "The delivery guy said it was from Billy... _Oh_," she said, realising in hindsight that it definitely wasn't from him.

"The frozen yoghurts were both infused with a particular type of chemical mix that was designed to kill you. It included various genetic modifications; some of these took place before your actual death, which is why you probably felt sick and hot all afternoon," he said, continuing before she could respond, "When you were killed by the death ray, the dormant modifications from the frozen yoghurt were activated and your primary DNA structure was altered. You were not only reanimated to come back to life, but you were also enhanced in other ways, which is why you now have the ability to channel your rage into a fiery flame of hate."

Penny processed this information for a moment, a small frown on her face. "Okay, I understand the fire-and-rage part of it, but why does it disappear when I think of Billy?"

Now it was Professor Normal's turn to stare. "If you could demonstrate?"

She nodded, her arms flaming up almost immediately. Before she could do anything drastic, like burn Professor Normal's not-so-secret laboratory, Penny thought of Billy, and the flames disappeared instantly.

"How intriguing. Does this happen often, or are you able to control it?"

"I can control it. I think," she added hesitantly.

"I might test you in the training arena later, if you're willing?"

Penny gave a brief nod, looking to her hot arms. She'd rather get it under control so she didn't do something stupid like almost set fire to an apartment block again.

"So how exactly do you control it?" Professor Normal asked, clipboard in hand to take notes.

"I think of Billy," she replied quietly.

"Oh. Well, then... Is that a good thing?" he asked, certain that there were other images she could be implanted with if she wanted to think of something else in order to control her power.

"Yes, it's good. All I need to do is think of Billy, and I won't harm anyone. I won't do anything bad while he's in my thoughts," Penny replied, smiling.

Up in his secret laboratory, Billy sighed heavily and looked away from the discussion happening between Professor Normal and Penny. He didn't know what to think about her admission. If this had happened months ago, Billy would have devised a plan to make Penny understand why being evil was better than being good. He'd wanted her by his side as he took control of the world, he wanted to give her everything she ever wanted, and everything she never knew she wanted (_like the whole of Australia - the general population would be happy with a different redheaded female Prime Minister, surely_). He'd wanted her to be evil with him, not **good** because of him. _What sort of member of the Evil League of Evil made people be good just by them thinking about them? No one ever thought of Bad Horse and was suddenly compelled to be good_!

Although now, after Penny's death and subsequent return to him, Billy wasn't entirely sure what he wanted. The desire to control the world was still there, of course - the governments could never rule the world as well as he knew he could, all of the different parties trying to control everything and never succeeding in changing a single thing. If **he** were in charge, then everything would be done because he said it, and because he wished for it. He would command armies, or even a country's entire population, if he had control over the world. The hierarchy would change drastically, he would be powerful, he would step on everyone and everything as they'd done to him. He'd get the girl, and they'd go wherever they wanted. He'd control everything, and there'd never be any hunger, or homeless people, and people would be happy ... _and where had __**that**__ thought come from_?

Billy dropped the remote control from his hand as if scalded. _No, he couldn't possibly __**want**__ that. He was evil! He was Dr. Horrible! He had a PhD in Horribleness! And he was really, truly evil! He'd been accepted into the E.L.E. for evil's sakes! He should want people to starve, and not have a place to sleep_!

He shuddered, turning off his feed to the security cameras. Leaving his laboratory, Billy went into his apartment to give himself some time to think. Maybe if he had a restful night's sleep, he'd wake up feeling evil again. With that hope in mind, Billy changed into pyjamas, closed all of his curtains until not a sliver of light could be seen, climbed into bed, and willed himself to sleep while he thought of evil things.

_Drawing moustaches on photographs; breaking expensive antiques; squishing Captain Hammer under his giant boot; giving __**him**__ the wedgies and swirlies; treating him with neglect and indifference, like he didn't even exist, no matter if he came first in the latest Science Fair_.

Despite his evil thoughts, sleep was only granted when Billy started to think of Penny.

...

Billy waited impatiently for the woman to finish counting the stack of cash he'd handed to her. Unmarked bills, lower denominations, and a grand total of $250,000.

"Thank you for your donation, sir. Would you like to keep the donation anonymous or have your name known?"

"Anonymous," he replied quickly, fighting the urge to itch at his fake beard.

He was standing in the Caring Hands shelter, dressed in normal clothes, his hood up over his head, dark glasses on despite the dim light inside, and a Santa beard on his chin. (He'd wanted something a bit more sophisticated and not so obvious, but it was all that the costume store had left. Well, they had the Santa beard, or what looked like a leftover from a Captain Jack Sparrow outfit. No one could be disguised while wearing that weird double goatee thing.)

"Very good, sir. On behalf of the homeless, thank you again for your support."

Behind his glasses, Billy's eye twitched. He hurried to leave before he pulled out a ray gun and demanded his money back, as well as everything else they had behind the counter.

He had donated the money to the shelter for a reason. By helping the Caring Hands shelter, Penny wouldn't turn into Fire Girl (_really, __**Fire Girl**__ is the best you can think up with_? he thought in disgust) on hearing about it's closure, and she could concentrate on finding Captain Hammer instead. Then he could take down his nemesis, and finally prove to everyone that he really was evil.

_Even though he'd already had a shot at taking down the corporate tool, and he was already considered evil, what with his position on the E.L.E board and all. Which wasn't the point. He hadn't defeated Captain Hammer the first time, but this time around, he wouldn't fail. He would destroy the corporate tool once and for all_!

His evil laugh echoed in the nearby alley and a few people hurried past him, their heads lowered as they tried to ignore the crazy blonde man with a fake beard laughing at nothing.

...

Penny wandered through the headquarters of E.L.E. Now that Billy knew she was here, she was allowed to leave her room more often. She'd gone out before, talking with Kiev in the kitchen about his vegetarian menu, laughing with the Evil Librarian, having a frozen yoghurt in Professor Normal's not-so-secret laboratory, but Billy had come in nearly every time and she'd had to rush away or hide so he wouldn't see her.

After seeing Professor Normal the day before, he had offered to meet her in the training arena to help her get control of her power, but she'd refused for the moment, wanting to think about everything he'd told her. Mainly, how the E.L.E. had planned to kill her even before she'd been killed. Which was a very confusing thing to think about and made her head ache. She'd been no one special, not even when she was dating the corporate tool. (_Oh, how easy it was to think of him like that, never mind the fact that they'd been intimate_.) The fact of her non-special nature was made more than obvious by the newspapers and media who still had no idea what her name was.

Quickly redirecting her thoughts when she felt her arms flare up (_honestly, she'd never been this narcissistic before she'd died! At least, she hadn't been aware of it if she had_.), Penny wondered yet again where Billy had gone. She'd gone to visit him this morning, but was dismayed to learn that he'd already left. No one knew where he'd gone, and she just hoped that he wasn't doing something evil. Even if it involved the corporate tool, she didn't think that she could handle her Billy buddy doing something really evil.

Penny tried to see the good in everyone, tried to put her past behind her to become a more positive person. She wanted to inspire people with the way she'd turned her life around. Or at least, she had before she died. Now that she had died, it seemed it would be a harder task to accomplish. But maybe not impossible. It just depended on the angle and the viewer, really.

"Penny? Fury's awake now," New informed her with a brief smile.

"She's asking for you," Blue added.

With a nod, Penny turned to follow them down to where Fury was waiting.

She'd resolve to inspire people again after she told Fury where Ira was.

...

"I didn't come here so you could mock me, Moist," Billy muttered, glowering over at his soon-to-be-former henchman.

Moist just continued to laugh, ignoring his glare. He tried to talk, his words coming out in short bursts between his laughter. "You really ... really think ... that donating ... money to the homeless ... is an evil thing ... because it will make ... Penny be evil?"

"Knew I shouldn't have told you," he said, shaking his head. "And when you put it like that, of course it sounds bad!"

His laughter finally subsiding, Moist rubbed his sleeve on his eyes to dry the tears that had formed. "Well then, how would you put it? There's no other way to put it, buddy, and you're just deluding yourself if you think that this was anything other than a good deed! You're just lucky that no one from the E.L.E. saw you. You'd be kicked off the board faster than you can say, Dr. Do-good."

"It wasn't good! It was a strategic move to help a ... fellow E.L.E. member."

"Man, it took you years to get into the E.L.E., do you really think Penny's just become an honorary member or something because they brought her back from the dead? She's all sunshine and butterflies, not death and evilness," Moist said, rolling his eyes.

"_Sunshine and butterflies_? What the hell is in your humidifier?"

"Very funny, _Ph.D. in Horribleness_," Moist said, his eyebrow raising.

"It still wasn't a good deed," Billy said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It wasn't an evil deed either. Let's go rob a bank, that'll make you feel better. Come on, we haven't done anything in ages."

"I don't feel up to robbing a bank. It's too easy now."

"Okay, well there's a park nearby, we can go push over some old ladies or little kids?" Moist suggested with a shrug.

"Do I even **know** you? I'm not going to push people over, Moist. I'm Dr. Horrible, not Dr. Push-people-over."

"Fine, fine," he said, frowning as he tried to think of something worthy of _Dr. Horrible, E.L.E. board member extraordinaire_. "Oh, I know just the thing!" he announced, turning to him with a broad grin.

"If you mention the kid who becomes President again, I'll build a ray gun out of your microwave and shoot you with it," Billy muttered.

"Don't be stupid, Hourglass already sold that information on the evil market. The kid's been moved into protective custody because of the White Watcher. There was a huge blowup over it in the Henchmen's Newsletter. I'm surprised you didn't hear about it," Moist said, shaking his head briefly.

"Yeah, that's fairly big news. The buyer didn't try to do anything to Hourglass, did they?" Billy asked with a frown.

Moist snickered. "They tried to send a bomb to her through the mail, designed to explode when it was opened. She had a vision of it, and redirected her mail to their address. They blew up their own headquarters with their own bomb. Hourglass sent a video to me of it; it was hilarious. Want to see?"

Billy grinned and nodded quickly, moving to where Moist's computer was set up.

"You want to drive it? I don't really want to go through the hassle of putting gloves on if I'm not going to be online for a while."

"Sure," he replied with a shrug, switching the computer on.

In a matter of minutes, the computer was on, the video was loaded, and Billy was laughing so hard that tears were actually forming.

"That guy! With the arm!"

"Where he's waving it about?"

"Yeah, and then he picks up his ear!"

Moist laughed heartily. "And then the bit where that other guy's hopping about and trips over that brick!"

"Whoa. That wasn't funny," Billy said seriously. Then his expression faded and he laughed again. "That was hilarious!"

They watched the video another three times before Billy realised that Moist actually hadn't told him his idea.

"Hey, what was that idea you had?" he asked, frowning slightly when he realised just how off topic they'd gone.

"Oh, yeah. I know where Captain Hammer does his therapy sessions," Moist said, his grin broadening.

...

"You're certain it's Ira? The same Ira who left me at the altar?"

"If I wasn't positive, I wouldn't be telling you now," Penny said patiently. "Ira Goldschitz changed his name to Irving Latrene, and he's in protective custody. The library has access to the Births, Deaths, and Marriages database, and I found out that there were only twelve people who changed their name in Pennsylvania the year you were due to get married. Most of those people were easy to find online or in the phone book, but Irving Latrene's just disappeared completely. He doesn't exist online, and there's no one with that name in any state in America, the UK, or even Australia."

"Then how do you know that he's in protective custody?" Fury asked.

She was trying not to get her hopes up; she'd spent years searching for Ira, and she had just hit dead end after dead end. The maids were just as upset as she was every time they didn't find him, and she hadn't actively searched for him for almost two years. The disappointment was too much to handle, and the anger in her grew with each false lead. After the last time, she'd almost decapitated Dead Bowie, and Bad Horse himself had needed to subdue her. She still had the hoof mark on her shoulder blades from where he'd kicked her to the ground. Fury had been moments away from killing Bad Horse too, but knew that she wasn't powerful enough to do it successfully, and she'd be kicked out of the E.L.E. without a second thought. She needed their resources to get to Ira, and she'd managed to quell her rage long enough to let Professor Normal inject her with a sedative.

"I, well ..." Penny hesitated, blushing slightly, tilting her head a bit with a guilty grin. "I asked the Evil Librarian to hack into the Secret Service to get their financial records for me," she admitted.

Fury grinned slightly, but she wouldn't admit that she was impressed.

"It took a few days, but there wasn't much else to do while I was bedridden... I went through all of their data and found out ... well, I found out a few disturbing things, but I also found out that the protective services budget increased every time you went on a rampage."

Blanching slightly, Fury simply stared at her.

"If you go out on a rampage now, or later when you're well enough," Penny amended, glancing at her on the bed, "Then the Evil Librarian and I can watch the Secret Service database and find out where they take Ira."

Silence stretched for a long moment, and then continued on to another long moment.

"You realise that once I find Ira, I'm going to kill him?" Fury asked, surprising herself at how hesitant she was to hear Penny's answer.

It took a moment, but Penny finally nodded in response. "I know. I'm not happy about it, because he is a human being, and he might have made a mistake in not marrying you, but..." she added before Fury could get offended, "But, I have no idea what you've been through these last ten years since he left you at the altar. I have no idea how you feel towards him, but if it's anything like what I feel when I think of Captain Hammer - " she paused, quickly extinguishing her arms with a thought, " - then I can understand your need to do this... I'm just worried about what will happen to you once you've ... done what you need to do. It might help you and you might be able to go on without being Fury Leika, but it might make you want to kill every man in sight. I'm just hoping that it helps you more than hurts you. You're my friend, as odd as that might sound, and I don't want to cause you more pain," Penny said, her sentence finishing in a large whoosh of air.

Sitting up, Fury wrapped her arms around Penny, giving her a quick hug. "If you tell anyone that I just did that, I'll deny it until my dying breath," she said.

With a grin, Penny pretended to zip her lips.

"Fury? Tie-Die isss going absssolutely _insssane_ upssstairsss. What isss happening down here?" Snake-Bite asked, coming into the room.

"Nothing. Maybe FTJ finally kissed Dead Bowie?" Fury said with a shrug.

Snake-Bite did her little hiss-laugh. Turning to the intercom, she pressed a button, telling Tie-Die to shut up already. She left without another word, the disco ball on her staff spinning. New and Blue quickly stood by the door to keep guard.

"Fury? You're going to want to see this," Borrowed said, her voice coming into the room from the watching station behind the glass mirror. "It's the big blue button there."

"I know which button to press, Borrowed. Don't you sass me, girl," Old grumbled beside her.

In front of the bed, the wall slid open to reveal a large home entertainment system. Penny's eyes widened in surprise - _why had no one told her that there was a TV in her room_? - but her expression faded to one of anger when she saw the news headline running across the bottom of the screen.

"For those of you just tuning in, this is what everyone is hoping will be the triumphant return of Captain Hammer. News chopper one is on the scene," the female news reporter informed them, and a small box appeared in the top corner of the screen, showing a man pointing a camera out of a helicopter's door awkwardly.

The small screen became bigger and the two news reporters were placed in their own small box at the bottom of the screen to show their reactions to everything that was happening.

"Isn't that the Caring Hands building?" Blue asked, frowning slightly

"Captain Hammer appears to be at the same place he was originally defeated in. The place where what's-her-name was killed," the male reporter said, shaking his head at the reminder.

Fury wasn't entirely surprised when Penny turned into flames and shot up the hall, disappearing from sight a moment later.

"New, call Kiev. Tell him to bring up a bowl of popcorn. Borrowed, get on the 'com and tell everyone to turn to Channel One. I don't care what they're doing; they're going to want to watch this. Old, find out where the Evil Librarian is, and thank her for helping Layla with finding Ira... Tell her I'll thank her myself when he's dead. Blue, bring four chairs in here you lot. Don't rip your dress again, it's a bitch to re-stitch."

Old, New and Blue dematerialised immediately to do as she said, while Borrowed used the watching station's intercom to connect to everyone in the E.L.E headquarters. When Blue returned with the chairs, setting them down carefully so she wouldn't tear her dress, Borrowed entered the room to sit beside Fury, informing her that everyone was watching the news, even Bad Horse and the Chorus.

"A new development is happening on the scene. It seems a fire has started. But ... wait, the fire's moving!"

"Yet another development, it seems that Dr. Horrible himself has come to fight his nemesis once more!"

"This fight will be one for the record books."

...

End of Act VI, pt. 1.

Thank you for reading; I hope you liked it.


	7. Heroes and villains

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_...

...

Act VI, pt. 2 - Heroes and villains

...

Billy and Moist stopped around the corner from the therapist's office, watching as Captain Hammer left the building with a purposeful stride. Billy had changed into his Dr. Horrible outfit, just in case they ran in to the superhero. It wouldn't do him any good to beat the corporate tool while he was still dressed as his civilian self; no one would know that he'd done it!

"Oh, man, are you going to fight him now? He's looking awfully perky," Moist said in a mixture of worry and disgust.

"_Awfully perky_? You've been hanging around with Pummeler too much," Billy said, shaking his head.

"Quick, he's almost around the corner," Moist said, both of them hurrying after Captain Hammer.

Billy heard a scuffle of shoes behind them, and looked over his shoulder to see three familiar faces. Two girls and a guy were following him wearing shirts that had his face plastered on them, and goggles on their heads. _His groupies had found him, dammit_.

"Oh, no. Moist, can you deal with them?" Billy hissed.

Looking over his shoulder, Moist grinned slightly. "Sure thing. I'll catch up later."

With a quick nod of gratitude, Billy sprinted down the street.

"Hey, baby. You never called me," Moist said, holding his arms out as he grinned at the first girl groupie.

"You never gave me your number," she replied, glowering at him.

Luckily, her friends stayed with her rather than continued to follow Dr. Horrible. Moist just hoped that the fight would be on the news so he could watch it later.

...

Captain Hammer strode along the street, taking long steps in an effort to get to his destination quicker. He wished he could have brought the Hammer Cycle, but the Justice League of Justice had confiscated his ride until his therapist deemed him ready to return to fighting.

The aching in his chest still lingered from where he'd been blasted by that death ray, and while his therapist said the pain was in his mind, Captain Hammer could feel it so clearly that his fists clenched in their gloves in response to the pain. Something his therapist said today had sparked this little excursion through the city; he'd told him that he should go back to where it started, where everything went wrong, and maybe he'd have a chance to start healing again.

_If he'd had the Hammer Cycle, he would have been there already_, Captain Hammer thought sourly. Then he took a deep breath and made himself think positively, as the therapist had suggested. _He was getting exercise... Which was useless, because he didn't need it; look at him! He was in prime shape! Okay then. He was getting fresh air... Which he could have gotten on the Hammer Cycle if he'd lifted his helmet's visor... This seriously sucked_.

News of him walking the streets must have preceded him because a news chopper was already flying overhead by the time he reached the Caring Hands building.

Captain Hammer frowned when he saw a blaze of flames simply appear in front of him. A quick movement behind him had him turning to see Dr. Horrible coming towards him, and he hurried to put his fists up.

_You are strong, you are capable, you are a big damn superhero. You will win this fight or the J.L.J. will permanently retire you_.

"I knew you'd return to the scene of the crime, Dr. Horrible!" he sneered.

The blonde man stopped, a confused look on his face. "What?"

"This is where you killed my girlfriend! It's the scene of the crime," Captain Hammer reiterated.

"Yeah, but I was just following you. I had no idea you'd end up here," Dr. Horrible replied with a shrug.

"Oh. Well... Um, let me start over," he muttered.

Dr. Horrible gave a nod in return, his black-gloved hands crossed over his red Doctor's outfit as he waited.

"Oh, who am I kidding? I don't need words to beat you," Captain Hammer said, moving towards Dr. Horrible with his arm drawn back.

The blonde man's eyes widened and he fumbled to pull a gun out of his pocket.

Before he could land the punch, the fire behind him intensified so much that Captain Hammer could feel the heat burning his back. The small reminder of pain had him faltering, but what happened next was by far worse.

"You killed me, Captain Hammer! Prepare to face my wrath," an angry female voice yelled.

Turning around in surprise, Captain Hammer saw a ghost. A red-headed ghost who he'd had sex with once. Well, when she was alive.

"P-P-Penny?"

...

_Oh, I made him stammer in fear! Captain Stammer_! Penny thought to herself, trying not to laugh out loud.

"Surprised to see me?" she asked with a brief smile, her rage burning beneath the surface of her skin.

It had taken her the whole of ten minutes to get to the Caring Hands shelter from the E.L.E. headquarters, but she'd been unable to compose herself long enough to return to her human form rather than the trail of flames she'd become. It was only when Dr. Horrible was in harm's way that she'd managed to calm her emotions long enough to return to her normal self. Being this close to Captain Hammer, being close enough to see the whites of his eyes, was definitely not helping her quell her rage. She was one wrong word away from destroying everything around her.

"You're alive?" Captain Hammer asked, his jaw dropping open.

Behind him, Dr. Horrible finally had his gun out and it was warmed up enough to fire. Billy pointed it at Captain Hammer, his heart racing and his hands trembling. It wasn't a death ray, or even a freeze ray, but instead something that he'd been working on since Penny's death when he'd had the inclination and energy to get out of his armchair. It was only in it's beta phase, but he hoped it wouldn't backfire on him now, like so many of his inventions.

Penny stepped towards them, and Captain Hammer made a squeak of fear, moving to run away. Billy glowered, taking a brief second to loathe the man for attempting to run rather than facing his fate at Penny's deserving hands. He pulled the trigger, and Captain Hammer screamed in pain as the jolt of electricity hit his body. His scream cut short as the electrical pulses that ran through his body immobilised him, freezing him just as effectively as a Freeze Ray.

"Thanks, Billy buddy," Penny said, smiling at him when she was close enough for him to hear.

Grinning at her, Billy nodded in response. Captain Hammer didn't move. Overhead, the news chopper was still flying around, and they could hear vehicles approaching the street, most likely news vans.

Looking at the frozen hero before her, Penny tried to dredge up an inkling of remorse, a feeling of regret, something other than the hatred that burned through her body. There was nothing there, and she was reminded of herself at a younger age, bitter and cynical at the world that had dealt her such a cruel hand. She had stamped those feelings down, pushed them out with her bright smiles and optimistic attitude. In return, she'd been killed. Penny had done everything to try to make up for her sordid past, but it obviously hadn't been enough. She had been killed by the good guy, rescued by the bad guys, and like every super before her - hero and villain - she had a choice to make. This was the moment between good and evil, between right and wrong.

Thinking of everyone she'd met at the Evil League of Evil over the past few months - Fury and her bridesmaids, Bad Horse and the Chorus, Snake Bite, Professor Normal, Moist, Pink Pummeler, Dead Bowie, Fake Thomas Jefferson, Kiev, the Evil Librarian, and even Tie-Die for a brief moment - Penny decided that they were just like her. They were all trying to make changes in the world, whether large ones like Billy and his plans to overthrow the government or smaller personal ones like Fury and Ira Goldschitz. Each of them were attempting to create change, to make the world something that they could live in comfortably. They weren't heroes, some of them weren't even nice, but Penny could understand that need for change, their desire for the world to accept them as they were.

Thinking of Captain Hammer, Penny remembered his arrogance, his insincerity towards both herself and the homeless people she cared for. She remembered how smug he had looked when she'd given herself to him, as if he had expected nothing less. Her fists clenched as she remembered how he had announced to the media and in front of a crowded room that they had had sex, her embarrassment and disgust at the revealing of such personal information. She remembered him putting down the homeless, comparing them to a dog, and the personal hygiene of people she cared for. He wasn't trying to make a change in the world, nor trying to keep it safe. He got joy out of beating people up, as she'd seen from the numerous news reports about each conquering fight against Dr. Horrible. Billy had been beaten within an inch of his life at times, all because he was attempting to administer a change in the world that others didn't like. It was disgusting, and she was horrified that no one else could see Captain Hammer for what he really was: a bully, one who just happened to be super strong and have the Mayor's support.

Penny was on the precipice of her decision, good and evil warring inside of her, the two sides playing tug-of-war with her mind and emotions.

_Where were her morals now? Her desire to be an inspiration to people? To be inherently good and lead by example_?

All thoughts of being good fled as she continued to look at Captain Hammer; the man who had killed her; the hero who had run away while she died in the arms of the villain; the hero who had tried to run away again when faced with the consequences of his actions.

Penny stepped forward. The war between good and evil had been won, and she had made her choice.

"Can you undo that, Billy? I want him to _know_ what I'm doing to him."

Without hesitation, Dr. Horrible adjusted a setting on his gun and fired it at Captain Hammer. The moment his temporary paralysis disappeared, Captain Hammer fell to his knees, sobbing in pain. Deciding that Penny deserved this fight, Billy pulled a camera from one of his numerous pockets and began to record with one hand, the other resting on his gun trigger.

"I was wrong; _this_ is what pain feels like," Captain Hammer sobbed, his arms cradled against his chest.

Penny couldn't feel a bit of remorse or pity for the man. He was an arrogant hero who thought he was invincible. The only remorse he'd felt after killing her was for himself and his own pain, not for the fact that he'd killed her. She couldn't forgive him nor pity the sobbing man before him. Seeing him crying before her made her feel a sense of satisfaction, and her entire body lit up in flames.

Captain Hammer felt the heat and saw the bright reflection on the asphalt, and finally looked up to see his formerly-dead-girlfriend made up of flames.

"W-what are you?"

"I am Justice," she growled, reaching forward to lift him up by his shirt.

He tried to hit his way out of her grip, but his gloves melted against her fiery body, and Captain Hammer's blows were feeble.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Justice asked with a smile that made his chest ache with that phantom pain again.

"Please, don't kill me."

Justice laughed, a cruel laugh that some could only achieve through vocal coaches, and Captain Hammer winced as a cold shiver made its way up his spine, despite the heat his late girlfriend was radiating.

"Oh, I don't plan on killing you, Captain Hammer. I plan on making you feel every inch of pain you've made me feel," she replied.

Letting go of his shirt, Justice stepped forward before he could run away again, and wrapped her arms around his body tightly. Captain Hammer screamed in pain as flames licked at his body, devouring his flesh, destroying his clothes, and his entire blazed in pain. The flames of Justice continued to burn long after his agonised screams stopped.

Billy tried not to gag on the smell of burning flesh, and decided that becoming a vegetarian would be an excellent idea. He kept his camera as still as possible, and if he hadn't seen what happened next, nor recorded it on the camera, he never would have believed it happened.

Justice dropped Captain Hammer, his body naked, charred, and melted in some places. He was still alive, which was made obvious through his shallow whimpers of pain, but he looked nothing like his former strong and handsome self. Justice continued to burn, and as he watched, Billy saw that she was starting to burn herself. Her body was flames, and he could see through the smoke-less blaze easily. She turned to face him, mouthing something that he couldn't hear over the raging fire, and then Penny dissolved into ashes.

"Penny? Penny! Oh, god, not again! Penny!" Billy screamed, the camera falling from his grasp as he ran over to her. "Penny, oh, Penny. No, Penny. You'll be okay, you'll be okay," he said, pleaded, promised, and begged.

Overhead, the news crew were stunned, each man and woman silent as they continued to record the events below. The entire world watched as Dr. Horrible fell to his knees, tore off his glove, and began to hopelessly scoop the ashes of his accomplice into his empty glove. The camera wasn't close enough to see his falling tears, but the distraught look on his face was obvious enough.

"No, please. Not again. Penny, no."

...

"Maids, get him the hell out of there. **Now**," Fury said, her face pale, her white-knuckled fingers clutching the popcorn bowl on her lap.

They disappeared and returned a moment later, a sobbing Dr. Horrible between them. They were all too shocked to be angry at the man's presence, and New collapsed onto the bed beside Fury, tears trickling from her eyes.

On the ground, the other three bridesmaids still surrounding him, Billy was still pleading for Penny to be returned, his hands clutching the glove he'd scooped the ashes up into.

Blue and Borrowed continued to watch the television screen, seeing the J.L.J. arrive at the Caring Hands shelter moments after their departure. Captain Hammer was taken away on a stretcher, and the news cameras returned to the two stunned anchors. The man looked sick every time a picture of Captain Hammer's body was shown, and the woman was already sobbing quietly into a handful of tissues.

For a good ten minutes, Fury simply sat on the bed in shock, her entire body frozen, even though her arms were wrapped around New's sobbing form. She stared at the glove full of ashes, remembering the very first time she'd seen Penny go up in flames. She'd been so deliciously _angry_, and then she'd made the flames disappear without a trace. No smoke, not a piece of soot, nor a speckle of ash. _Yet this time she'd left behind an entire pile of ashes_?

"New, sit up for a minute. Old, give me that glove," Fury demanded.

Old pulled it out of Billy's grasp before he even registered Fury's words, and wordlessly, New moved back as her fellow maid handed the glove to their bride. Pouring the popcorn onto the floor without a concern for the mess it would make, Fury carefully poured the ashes into the bowl.

Billy choked on a sob as he watched Fury pour the ashes into the bowl. _That was all that was left of Penny, how could she __**do**__ that to her_?

Then he heard a _clink_ noise, and his expression turned to a frown. He made his way over to Fury, his eyes red with tears. Wordlessly, Fury showed him the bowl, a large diamond resting against the edge, grey ashes filling the rest of it. Billy hesitated a moment before picking it up carefully. The diamond was clear and quite warm, as if it had been exposed to an intense heat and was only just starting to cool down.

"Coming up next, the Justice League of Justice will be making an official statement to the press," the anchorman reported behind them.

Dr. Horrible ignored the announcement, his hand closing around the diamond, and hurried out of the room without another word.

There was a knock at the door a few minutes later, and Fury looked over to see the Evil Librarian standing there.

"Old said I could see you after the news; is now all right?"

Before Fury could answer, the Mayor appeared on the television and introduced the leader of the Justice League of Justice, the Red Dwarf.

"Thank you, Mayor. First, I would like to express my thanks to the fans and supporters of Captain Hammer. He has been taken to the Justice League of Justice's hospital, but you must be aware that his injuries are severe and he may need to retire. Secondly, I have a formal announcement regarding the protection of this fine city..." He waited for a moment, and on realising that no applause would be forthcoming, continued. "The Justice League of Justice is proud to present their newest hero, Lieutenant Frost!"

There was a smattering of applause as a young man in his early twenties took the stage. The blue-eyed man was extremely pale, his hair was white, and he was dressed in a pair of white pants, and a light blue long-sleeved shirt that only seemed to accentuate the fact that he was cold.

"Good evening, citizens. It is my honour to represent the Justice League of Justice. I promise to remove the evil threat that is plaguing this city. Starting with Dr. Horrible," he said with a chilling smile.

Fury hurried to turn the television off. From Dr. Horrible's blog, it was easy to tell that the J.L.J.'s newest recruit was none other than Johnny Snow. He could be a problem, but they had bigger problems to deal with first, namely the fact that Penny now seemed to be in the form of a diamond.

"I know Penny's out of action, but I thought you still might want to go on a rampage so I can find Ira," the Evil Librarian offered.

Fury smiled, an evil smile that spoke volumes of pain. "That would be a _very_ welcome distraction."

...

In the Justice League of Justice's headquarters, the Red Dwarf looked at Captain Hammer, the medical examiner telling him the exact extent of his injuries. Once the man had finished his monologue, the Red Dwarf sighed heavily.

"We've received a lot of pressure from the Mayor to replace Captain Hammer. He's had to use the money that was allocated to his holidays in order to fight crime. It's the only reason Johnny has been put out into the field with such little training. I doubt he'll survive his first real fight, and that means I have to spend even more money to train someone else."

"And in regards to Captain Hammer? Should I send him over to the surgery to prepare a skin graft?"

The Red Dwarf shook his head. "No. This was Captain Hammer's last fight. It will be too costly to heal him, and his therapist has indicated that he will never recover from the mental trauma this pain is likely to have given him."

He looked down at Captain Hammer, who was so drugged up on pain medication that he probably couldn't even remember his own name.

"I'm sorry, Hammond, but you've become a liability to the Justice League of Justice, and we can no longer afford to keep you. You always knew, even at the beginning, that ours was a business of profit and loss; and losses are not acceptable. Goodbye, Captain Hammer," the Red Dwarf said, sighing once more before turning to the medical examiner. "Kill him."

He left the room without a backward glance.

...

End of Act VI.


	8. Revenge

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_.

...

Act VII, pt. 1 - Revenge

...

It had taken both Dr. Horrible and Professor Normal almost two months, but they'd finally discovered how to restore Penny from her diamond-captive state. As she had burned to a diamond with intense heat, so she would return. Now they just needed to find a substance that was hot enough to affect a diamond.

While Dr. Horrible and Professor Normal had been working on restoring Penny, Fury had been out on a rampage in various cities in the hope of revealing just where Ira had been secreted away by the Secret Service. The Evil Librarian had been working overtime, scouring the government websites in order to find what Penny had alerted her to all of those months ago.

"Come on, girls. Last city for the day, and then we can get home," Fury said as they descended on the large town.

Blue and New hurried forward as Old and Borrowed walked behind her; Old holding Fury's train and Borrowed carrying the ball and chain carefully. Fury looked over at them with a slight frown, seeing the exhaustion in Old's face, and the dimming spark of hope in Borrowed's eyes. Blue and New were still young and held a rage that the two older bridesmaids didn't have the energy nor inclination for anymore. Oh, she knew that it would be different once they found Ira, but as with the occurrences two years ago, Fury could see that every time they failed to find him, it was if he'd left them at the altar all over again. The four bridesmaids were not her actual maids from her wedding as some people thought, but rather, they were epitomes of herself. She was Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue, just as they were her.

A wedding march started playing, and Fury stopped walking to answer her phone. The caller ID showed that it was the Evil Librarian, but if not for that, she doubted she'd've recognised the woman's voice on the other end of the phone.

"I've found him! Took six bloody weeks, but I've found him! Get back here right now, or you'll miss this chance, Fury!"

Fury barely noticed as Old took the phone from her. She felt like she'd been hit with Dr. Horrible's Freeze Ray, her body frozen at the news the Evil Librarian had just given her. After all of these years, she had finally found Ira.

"We've found him. We've finally found him," she whispered.

Her frozen state began to thaw very quickly, anger replacing it and boiling her blood as it flowed through her.

"New! Blue! Drop that little thug; we've got bigger fish to fry," Fury yelled.

New pouted, but let the man drop to the ground. Blue kicked him with her pointy high heel for emphasis, and they left him groaning in pain.

Fury wondered if Penny would be proud of her for only targeting the really bad men since she'd turned into a diamond. She left the evil ones alone, because that was her job, and who was she to judge? But the men who hurt women, the men who hurt children, the men who belittled and abused others, they didn't escape her wrath. Every man the maids turned their wrath on took on Ira's persona, his face, his sneer, his grabby hands, and every man fell begging for mercy. She was Fury Leika, and she had no mercy to spare for worthless men.

Fury hoped that in some way, Penny could forgive her.

Her anger and fury burning in her body, she disappeared, floating like a bride down the aisle towards her future partner.

...

Dr. Horrible left the laboratory, his body lethargic and his mind feeling like it was in a hundred different places at once. Neither he nor Normal had been able to find a heat that was hot enough to bring Penny back.

Opening the door to his apartment, Billy stepped inside, pulling his goggles off with a sigh. He took the gloves off and unbuttoned his coat. His message machine showed that he had a total of twenty phone messages, but he ignored the flashing light and walked to the kitchen instead. He knew that they would all be from Moist, and he had no desire to talk to his friend yet. (The last message he'd listened to had consisted of Moist informing him that he actually had a girlfriend now, and could he sign a photo for her since she was one of his groupies?)

_You're going to have to eat something _**_besides_**_ frozen yoghurt sooner or later_, Penny said, frowning at him when Billy just grabbed a froghurt.

Billy shrugged, spooning a mouthful into his mouth quickly when he heard a knock at the door. He was surprised, considering he'd been left alone so far; everyone knew that he was working on bringing Penny back and wasn't to be disturbed before then. Spoon still in his mouth, he opened the door, ready to tell whoever it was to go away.

"Kiev?" he said around the spoon awkwardly.

"Let me in already; I'm not letting this feast get cold. Put that frozen yoghurt down, sit at the table, and shut up," the chef demanded, pushing a trolley laden with food into the room.

"W-what?"

"Uh-uh, I said shut up. Go on now, sit down. This is the first time I've been able to corner you outside of that damned lab, and I'm making it worth my while."

Still perplexed, Billy soon found himself seated at the table, a place setting before him, and a bowl of soup on the placemat. (He was certain that he'd never bought a placemat before, and eventually discovered that it was a spare mouse mat from one of his older computers.)

"Oh, stop looking so confused. This is all part of the contract that Penny signed. If she is unable to taste the food I've cooked for her, then her next of kin, or closest acquaintance, whichever the case may be, is required to do the taste-testing. You're her closest acquaintance. I've been sitting on these recipes for weeks, now **eat**."

_I did tell you. Do as he says and eat_, Penny demanded.

Startled by the tone of authority in both Penny and Kiev's voices, Billy picked up his spoon and tried some of the soup hesitantly.

"Huh. That's not too bad."

"Not too salty? Too watery? Can you taste all of the flavours?"

Billy was bombarded by questions from the anxious chef. He briefly wondered if Kiev would mind if he fell asleep on the spaghetti.

"The amount of salt is perfect, the texture is wonderful, and I can taste the pumpkin flavour, as well as the hint of garlic and coriander that you've added to the soup... Can I sleep now?"

"Not yet, there's still another fifteen dishes left. You're not allergic to shellfish, are you?"

"No... But I'm seriously thinking of becoming a vegetarian," Billy muttered when he saw the size of the steak on another plate.

"So long as you do that after this, that's fine," Kiev muttered absent-mindedly.

"Wait, Penny's a vegetarian. How exactly were you planning on feeding this to her?"

"I wasn't. The Evil Librarian's out of service too. As is Fury, since they've found Ira. The Chorus are out grooming Bad Horse, and you and Professor Normal have been locked up all of this time. Snake Bite claims to have sat on Tie-Die since the Evil Librarian started laughing. Dead Bowie and Fake Thomas Jefferson were in the costume department the last I saw, and after last time, I refuse to step foot in there while they're playing dress up. You're the only one that's left who's awake and willing to try my food."

"Fair enough," Billy muttered with a nod. "Wait... They found Ira?" he asked, double-taking when he realised what Kiev had said.

"You didn't hear the laughter?" Kiev asked in disbelief.

"I heard. I was just trying to block it out," Billy said, shuddering.

Penny laughed, circling the trolley that Kiev had brought in to look at the dishes he'd cooked.

At Kiev's insistence, Billy continued to eat the plates and bowls of food. An hour later, Billy was lying on his couch, muttering about Kiev's evil plan to dominate the world with food.

"You really can't eat anymore?" Kiev asked, sounding disappointed.

"If I eat anymore, I'll explode. And I think I mean that literally," Billy groaned, his face turning a shade of green.

The chef sighed, turning back to the plates of food still sitting on his trolley. "I don't suppose you got that Freeze Ray working again? I'm not going to have enough room in the freezer for all of this."

Billy was still somewhat awake, but he couldn't bring himself to keep his eyes open. He was exhausted, and his full stomach didn't help him stay awake. Penny sat beside him, and he felt her stroke his hair gently, even as his eyes closed completely. Billy was asleep in a matter of seconds, well before he could answer Kiev's question.

Sighing, Kiev left the apartment reluctantly, taking the trolley with him. He'd just have to find some other hapless victim to interrogate about his food.

...

As Billy slept, he dreamed of everything that had happened since he'd first seen Penny in the laundromat. Then, as he remembered her second death, his dream returned to a particular point: the Wonderflonium heist. Wonderflonium was a weird word; it rolled off the tongue all right, but it was made up of such odd letters that it didn't sound like it could even be a real word. In his dream, the letters were made up of different colours, a written rainbow spectrum of bright flashing colours. Some of the letters were capitalised, others were in lower case, and Dr. Horrible was suddenly standing beside Billy, looking at him as if he was an absolute idiot for not seeing this sooner.

Billy woke up with a gasp. His apartment was dark, the blanket that had been placed on him was entwining his legs tighter than a python's grip, and according to the digital clock on his bookcase, Billy could see that it was almost 3 in the morning. Wrestling the blanket off his legs, he hurried to get out of his apartment. Tripping over the entangled blanket, Billy landed on the ground with a groan of pain. He kicked the blanket away angrily, and made his way over to the door in the dark, hitting into his coat rack despite his caution. He fared better in the hallway, as there was a light on the wall opposite to his apartment. Now that he could see where he was going, Billy ran down to Professor Normal's lab, calling the Professor's pager number at the same time.

The Professor returned the call, not sounding happy about being woken up in the middle of the night, muttering something about his wife, early morning shifts, and a restless baby. Dr. Horrible cut him off impatiently, explaining why his call was important enough to warrant waking Professor Normal.

"Think of Wonderflonium, okay? Now think of all of the components of the words. Look at them critically, and if you spell them like elements from the periodic table, what do you have? W, O, Nd, Er, Fl, O, Ni, U, M... Yes, I know that the Fl isn't _really_ that, but the F in the periodical table stands for **_Fl_**_uorine_, which counts..." Dr. Horrible said, holding the phone between his ear and shoulder as he pulled his black gloves on. "The M? Manganese, of course. Yes, I'm aware that it's _Mn_ on the periodic table... Would you stop rambling about improperly spelled chemicals now, and _think_ about what I'm saying?"

There was a moment of silence, and Billy frowned, certain that he could actually hear cogs moving, as they would in a metal brain or head.

"Some have extremely high melting points," Professor Normal said, slowly trying to piece together what Dr. Horrible was saying. "Well, the oxygen doesn't, of course, but when air reacts with fire..." He gasped slightly, the thought of the heat that this combination could provide overwhelming him for a moment. "I'll be right in."

"Great. I'll start gathering everything. This is going to work, Normal, I swear, it's going to work."

Professor Normal didn't have the same confidence as Dr. Horrible, and normally, he would be the first to point out the problems, his analytical brain seeing how everything could go wrong in a matter of seconds. Now however, he bit his tongue, and decided not to say anything. Dr. Horrible was desperate for this to work, and for once, Professor Normal didn't want to bring someone else's hope crashing down. Sighing, he disconnected from the call and went back into his bedroom to get changed.

"Honey? Everything all right?" his wife asked blearily from the bed.

"Major problem at work. I've got to go in to fix it," he said, keeping his voice at a dulcet tone so she wouldn't wake up completely.

"No one else can?"

"No one else knows the entry codes. It's counted as overtime, so I'll be bringing in more money this pay packet," he murmured, making a mental note to bring home some extra cash from the E.L.E.'s cash bank.

"Prefer you at home," she muttered, yawning tiredly.

"I know, dear, I'm just thinking of the mortgage. Go back to sleep now," he murmured, kissing her gently and tucking the blanket around her before leaving the room.

His wife's gentle snores followed him out, and Professor Normal was close to silent as he left the house, closing and locking the door behind him.

...

Dr. Horrible looked over the gathered solids and the gasses that had been bottled, the physical elements of Wonderflonium in its barest form. A large cylinder stood before him, with Penny's diamond placed in the centre of the floor. The cylinder itself wasn't as fireproof as he'd like, but it was covered in a fire-resistant material that the Chorus had found for him behind Bad Horse's stable. (Billy was surprised to see that they were sober, but it was a pleasant change; he was even more surprised to hear the concern in Zeke's voice about Penny's welfare.)

A rock of tungsten; a bottle of Oxygen; a large collection of neodymium magnets; another rock, this one of erbium; the crystal-like rock of fluorine; another bottle of Oxygen; a surprisingly large collection of nickels (he'd have to pay Moist back, maybe after asking why he collected so many low denominations of money), a vat of uranium (he had to sign a contract to state that he'd never divulge the whereabouts of the E.L.E.'s uranium supply); and finally, a purple-infused rock of manganese (Tie-Die had only handed it over after he'd threatened to be excessively happy in her presence otherwise).

Some of the materials had come from his own lab, but most were in the E.L.E.'s basement, where the chemicals and element components were kept under a regulated temperature. It was one of the bonus' of becoming an evil villain rather than a henchman.

Professor Normal stepped into the laboratory, adjusting his metal jaw briefly.

"Ready, Normal?"

"Are you positive about this, Horrible?" Normal asked, looking to him, one of his robotic eyes analysing the man's temperature and heart beat to ensure that he wouldn't falter if the time came to do something necessary to save the E.L.E. headquarters.

"Of course I'm positive about it. It will work, and Penny will be alive again."

Normal sighed; Horrible was telling the truth. Or at least, he believed it strong enough to think it was the truth.

"Very well. Let's start."

Dr. Horrible nodded determinedly and stepped forward to start the process that would bring Penny back to life. Again.

...

The fight to get to Ira was short and anything but satisfying. The Secret Service had become complacent in guarding Ira in the past ten years, but Fury's rage had only heightened in that time. The Secret Service must have thought that she'd never find Ira, and had stupidly sent **men** to guard over him. Fury's maids had torn them apart in a matter of moments, and there was a thrill of pleasure from Old and Borrowed that hadn't been felt in some time.

Using the ball chained to her ankle to break the lock on the door, Fury opened the door and stepped into the room to find Ira trying to escape through the fire escape. With a growl, she set her maids on him, all four working together to pull his half-in, half-out body back into the room and tie him to a chair.

"The years haven't been good to you, have they? You look like shit," Fury said, looking Ira up and down with a frown.

He was overweight, balding, and he looked far more miserable than she ever remembered him being before. Yet she still recognised him as Ira Goldschitz, the man who had left her at the altar all of those years ago.

"Hello to you too, Fran," he said with a world-weary sigh, as if he'd known all along that she'd catch up to him, no matter how long it took.

"Don't call me by that name, _Ira_," she hissed, and Blue tightened the binds around his wrist painfully.

"Actually, it's Irving now... Hey, I don't call you by your God-given name, you don't call me by mine," he added at her look.

"Stop talking and just kill him already! He's right _here_," New hissed, even as Old waivered beside her.

Fury took a step forward, but found that she lacked the same enthusiasm and desire to kill Ira that she'd had only moments before. All of those years she'd spent looking for him, her rage driving her to find him and kill him, and now that it had come to that exact point, she wasn't sure if she could actually go through with it. _Maybe Penny's goodness was contagious_?

Borrowed started shimmering, losing her substance just as Old was.

"No, Fury, you can't do this. We've spent ten years looking for him!" Blue said.

"He betrayed us; he left us at the altar! You can't not do this now!" New added.

Fury went to open her mouth to apologise. _Maybe they'd accept just beating him to a pulp and sending him to the Indigo Mafia to deal with? They all knew that he had debts that needed to be settled with them after all_.

Then she heard a female voice cry out in shock. Old and Borrowed solidified in a moment, disappearing to bring the intruder to the room. The woman was tied to a chair beside Ira before she even knew what was going on.

Fury had been expecting a maid, some sort of housekeeper - hell, even a delivery woman - but on seeing the woman that her maids brought to her, Fury's desire to kill Ira returned ten times renewed.

"You weren't supposed to arrive 'til tomorrow, Betty," Ira hissed at the woman tied up beside him.

"Don't talk to me like that, Irving. You ain't never complained the last hundred damned times we had to go on the run from your crazy ex-fiancée," Betty hissed right back at him.

"_Betty Kenton_?" Fury hissed, and all four bridesmaides returned as solid as when she'd first woken up as Fury Leika.

"Betty Latrene, actually," she replied, as smugly as possible for someone tied up.

Turning to Ira, Fury yelled at him, "You left me at the altar so you could marry _Betty fucking Kenton, my maid of honour_?"

Her yell of outrage was echoed by Ira's scream of pain as Blue and New slashed at him with their nails.

When his screams subsided to sobs of pain, Betty now pale and trembling beside him, Fury stepped forward, slashing at his face with her bouquet of poisonous flowers. The thorns were sharp and the poison more than effective; Ira's face swelling up almost immediately after he was scratched. His breathing became laboured within seconds, but Fury wasn't done yet. With a smile evil enough to befit a member of the Evil League of Evil, Fury accepted the offered box of incendiary rice from Old. Humming the wedding march, the maids left the room in a slow procession, and Fury began to back out of the room in time with the tune, watching both husband and wife carefully. Once she was in the doorway, Fury threw the entire box of incendiary rice into the room. Each individual grain of rice exploded on impact, flames encompassing the room in a matter of seconds.

Her face smudged with soot, a bruise or two from a Secret Service guard who'd been lucky to get a punch in, Fury looked to her bridesmaids, a feeling of relief encompassing all of them.

"We did it, girls. We finally did it," she murmured, hugging each of them tightly in turn.

A loud click sounded, and Fury looked down to see the ball and chain around her ankle was now unlocked.

"You have a choice, Fury," Old said, her body starting to waiver once more.

"Keep us and continue to be Fury," New said.

"Or lose us completely," Borrowed continued.

"And become your regular self again," Blue finished.

Fury stared at them for a moment. They were the four women who had been by her side, day in, night out for the past ten years. _Did they honestly think that she'd leave them, just because she'd finally killed Ira_? Crouching down, Fury clipped the chain around her ankle once more. Standing, she accepted the box of incendiary rice from Old, tucked the bouquet of poison flowers under her arm from Blue, and left with her bridesmaids to return to the Evil League of Evil. They still had a world full of men to punish.

Not ten metres away, Betty was crawling her way out of the fire escape that Ira had tried to fit through eariler. She was covered in her dead husband's blood, and she was coughing from all of the smoke inhalation. The noise was disguised in the sound of wailing sirens and incessant sound of the apartment block's numerous fire and smoke alarms. Thinking that she could get some fresh air up away from the smoke pouring out of the apartment, and be better seen by the firemen and police officers, Betty made her way up to the roof.

Overhead, there was a small green glow that was missed by everyone, too preoccupied with the fire. The only radioactive dove in the world was flying in the sky, and to make Betty's day even worse, it shat directly on her.

...

The Red Dwarf dodged the beam of ice that had been sent his way, his fist shattering the icicle that formed.

"Come on, Lieutenant Frost; you've got to do better than that! If you can't even beat me, how do you expect to beat anyone in the Evil League of Evil, least of all your nemesis, Dr. Horrible?"

Gritting his teeth, Johnny adjusted his shirt uncomfortably. He wished he could still wear his parka, but the Justice League of Justice had given him this outfit instead. It was a price of being a hero, he supposed.

Barely avoiding the Red Dwarf's fist, Johnny sent a beam of ice at him once more, grazing the man's arm.

"Don't look so happy. It's not even bleeding! Come on, Lieutenant Frost, go again," Red snarled, punching at him.

Johnny sidestepped the fist quickly, and continued his training against the leader of the Justice League of Justice.

He had to be ready to defeat Dr. Horrible now that he was weak and vulnerable. He had to do it to avenge Captain Hammer, to defend the city, and to settle his own score with his arch nemesis.

"Excuse me, Red? We've got a walk in," Power Woman called to him from the training room doorway.

Using the momentary distraction to knock Johnny out, Red nodded to his secretary and followed her out to the foyer, leaving the pale boy lying on the floor for the medical team to work on.

A woman wearing a black dress of mourning, complete with a blood-streaked black veil, was waiting for him.

"Red Dwarf, I'm the Bloody Widow; I'd like to join the Justice League of Justice," she said, extending a black-gloved hand to him delicately.

Giving a slight bow in respect for her mourning, the Red Dwarf looked at her through the veil for a moment.

"Why do you want to join the Justice League of Justice?" he asked curiously.

"To get my revenge on Fury Leika for killing my husband," the Bloody Widow replied.

The Red Dwarf hid a smile, even as he led the Bloody Widow to her new quarters. The need for revenge was something he could definitely work with.

...

In Professor Normal's not-so-secret laboratory, Dr. Horrible and Professor Normal stepped back from the cylinder, relief flooding them. The diamond had succumbed to the heat of the Wonderflonium materials and Penny's body had appeared in its place.

After carefully attaching monitoring pads to her vital areas on the temples and heart, and placing an oxygen mask over her face so Penny could breathe, Dr. Horrible stepped back and closed the sealed door. He indicated for Normal to fill the cylinder with the nutrient-filled water that would help return Penny to her former state.

Neither Dr. Horrible nor Professor Normal knew whether she would return with her fiery powers or not, but Billy didn't care, just so long as she returned.

"Now, we just have to wait for her to wake up," Dr. Horrible murmured, sitting in front of the monitor screen.

Clasping him on the shoulder gently, Professor Normal wished him luck and said farewell. He had to get home to help his wife get the children ready for school, and then he had to go in to his regular 9 to 5 job.

Giving an absent-minded farewell in response, Dr. Horrible didn't look away from the monitor screens, watching for some sign of life.

_Don't worry, Billy buddy. I'll be back soon_, Penny murmured in his head.

...

End of Act VII, pt. 1.

Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it.

(a/n: For those interested, I have a Twitter and Facebook account where I link to updated stories, write drabbles that aren't on here or LiveJournal, and write general things I pass off as thoughts. URLs are listed in my profile.)


	9. By any other name

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_.

...

Act VII, pt. 2 - By any other name

...

Billy barely gave Fury a glance when she entered the laboratory with her maids, despite the fact that she was covered in blood and soot, and parts of her dress were torn and scorched.

"Ira?" he asked, curious despite his overwhelming concern for Penny, who still lay motionless in the cylinder.

"Dead as a doornail," Fury replied, letting out a sigh of contentment. "Penny?"

"No change yet."

"She's not a diamond anymore, at least."

_Ask her how it felt to kill Ira. Ask her what she's going to do now_, Penny said, looking at Fury with an odd expression on her face, one that Dr. Horrible couldn't hope to name.

"Do you feel better now that Ira's dead?" he asked, getting a surprised nod in return. "So what are you going to do now?"

"Why are you so interested?" Fury asked, suspicious now.

"You've been looking for Ira for years, so I was curious as to what you were going to do now that you've killed him. I doubt I'll be the only one to ask," Billy replied with a shrug.

Fury hesitated for a moment, glancing to the cameras around the room. Dr. Horrible leaned over a screen to press a button on a nearby remote. With a faint whirr, the cameras all dropped forward, the red lights no longer flashing.

"You've got a minute and a half before they go back online."

"I want to go with my maids and keep punishing men," she said, snarling the last word harshly and making Billy flinch in response. "But I only want to punish them if they're worth punishing. I don't want to punish them if they haven't done anything, y'know?"

Sighing in relief, Billy hurried to nod in response. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

_That's very interesting_, Penny noted, circling around Fury with a frown as she surveyed the damage to her dress from her fight.

"Does it look like there's going to be any change with Penny soon? I need a long bath, a week's worth of sleep, and a new dress," Fury muttered.

"Uh, I'm not sure," Billy said, frowning when he saw the Penny in his head moving over to the cylinder where her body was lying.

He almost cried out for her to stop, not to open the cylinder, but Penny smiled at him brightly over her shoulder and he could only watch as she stepped through the cylinder. She closed her eyes and there was a flash of light as she melted down into her body.

"What was that?" Fury yelped in surprise at the sudden light.

"You... You saw that?" Billy asked.

She didn't have time to answer him, as the machines began beeping loudly, the cameras turned on again, and Dr. Horrible hurried to get everything under control as Penny struggled in the nutrient-filled water cylinder.

"It's all right, Penny. Just calm down. Please, calm down or you're going to have a heart attack," Dr. Horrible called over the noise of the machines. "Damn it, the thing's jammed," he muttered, pressing the large button repeatedly without success.

"Maids, get that thing open," Fury said, and the four women materialised, attacking the cylinder and ripping the door off in a matter of seconds.

"Wow, killing Ira really affected them, didn't it?" Dr. Horrible muttered.

"Of course it did. They've been waiting just as long as I have," Fury said with a shrug, but there was a hint of pride in her tone as she watched them help Penny to sit up gently.

Her body trembling, her hair wet and flattened against her shoulders and face, Penny opened her mouth a few times to say something. Billy stepped forward, cautious and anxious and a whole mix of emotions as he waited for her to get control over her vocal functions enough to talk.

"Is Ira dead?" Penny asked.

_Not exactly what he was expecting_.

"Yep. As dead as Captain Hammer," Fury said with a wild grin.

"G-good," Penny said, still shivering in the cold water. She turned to Billy, her arms covering her exposed chest. "Get me out of here, Billy buddy?"

"Right. Just give me a minute," he muttered, reaching for the control to empty the cylinder.

A matter of seconds later, Penny was sitting in an empty tub, her arms wrapped around her chest. The maids lifted her onto her feet carefully, the hydraulics still jammed and unable to move the cylinder to an upright position. Billy hurried to wrap his Dr. Horrible suit around her trembling body, leaving him clad in a white shirt and black pants.

"I'll take you down to your room? Kiev'll be happy to see you're awake and probably cook everything in sight," Billy said with a quick grin.

"I just want to sleep. Your apartment's closer," Penny said, swaying on her feet moments before she collapsed.

Blue and New caught her before she hit the floor, and lifted her between them, her arms hanging around their shoulders loosely.

"Well, you heard her: up to your apartment. Chop, chop, Billy boy," Fury said, shooing him towards the door.

Startled, Billy hurried out of the laboratory, New and Blue following with Penny.

"Don't you hurt him, girls!" Fury called as an afterthought.

"Thank you!" Billy called gratefully, his shoulders losing some of their tension.

New shook her head at Blue, who just grinned in response.

...

Penny jumped out of the way of an oncoming ray. She had no idea what the ray would do if it hit her, but considering what had happened the last time one of Dr. Horrible's ray guns had been fired near her, she thought it a necessary precaution.

"You're meant to be helping me get my powers back, not kill me!" she called over her shoulder.

"Now you're just taking all of the fun out of it," Borrowed said, appearing and throwing a handful of incendiary rice at her.

Penny dodged the first few grains, but the others hit with an impact that shook the ground itself, and she fell to her knees, the small explosions making her ears ring.

"All right, I think that's enough, don't you?" Professor Normal's voice rang out over the PA system.

"No, not yet. I haven't turned into flames yet!" Penny protested.

"You've only been awake for three days, Penny, I hardly think that's enough time to get your strength back, let alone whatever dormant fire power you had the first time around," Normal said practically, his head already calculating the low chance of her powers returning after so long, especially considering their unstable nature in the first place.

"Don't say that! I can get the flames back! We just need to try harder!"

"We try any more, and we might kill you. _Again_... But this time, there'll be no coming back for you. Just go and rest for a while; you can't expect to get better while you're running around in here, can you?"

Penny bristled at being treated like a child, but her annoyance still wasn't enough to set off her flames. "Fine, I'll go rest."

"I'll call Kiev for you," Billy offered, pushing up his goggles after disarming his ray gun.

She smiled brightly and thanked Billy, telling him that she'd meet him back at their apartment. He made some sort of sweet strangled noise, his cheeks reddening when New whistled and Blue made loud and dramatic kissing sounds.

"What on earth are you two doing? Stop fooling around and get back to training. There's a whole lot of bastards out there who are still walking straight. I'm not going shoe shopping for nothing, you know!" Fury called.

New and Blue stopped with their antics, and while they were distracted by Fury, Billy and Penny left the training area.

"You want me to come outside with you?" Billy asked when he saw that she was heading to the back door.

"I'm all right. I'll be upstairs soon," Penny added, leaving before he could ask again.

Jack, Jordan, and Zeke were in the stables, mucking out Bad Horse's area and singing pieces of songs to each other in time with their brooms and pitchforks. Further up in the field Bad Horse was practising his death whinny on a few hapless animals that had the misfortune to wander into his line of sight.

"Hey, Penny. Still can't light up?" Zeke asked, seeing her expression.

"I wish you wouldn't call it that, you make me sound like an incompetent smoker," she muttered. "But no, I can't."

"Thinking about Captain Hammer doesn't help?" Jack asked, sweeping hay and mess out of the stable.

"No, I've tried to think about him and it doesn't do a thing. I guess now that he's dead, there's not much point in being angry over things he did."

"Why not? He still did them; him being dead doesn't change that," Jordan said, looking at her over the stable partition.

His question surprised Penny, but she couldn't answer him, and simply shrugged instead. "No idea, guess I'm just like that. I've tried thinking about everything, and _nothing_ helps."

"Why do you want to go up in flames so bad in the first place? You told Fury Leika that you didn't want to do that, you didn't want to be that," Zeke pointed out.

"I... I made my decision, and I want to stick with it," Penny said, but she sounded uncertain even to her own ears.

"Sure about that?" Zeke asked with a frown, leaning against his broom.

She sighed heavily. "I really don't know."

"A word of advice: make sure that whatever you choose, you won't end up regretting it."

There was a tone to his voice that made her heart go out to him in compassion, and it was that feeling of compassion that made her even more confused about her decision.

"Well, a final bit of advice, and then I'll stop droning on," Zeke said with a grin, despite her protests, "When you choose your name, make sure it's something you can actually pronounce in a hurry. There's no use going by some fancy name that you can't even articulate properly when you're attempting to rob someone."

Penny smiled and thanked him. She turned around to go back inside, even as her mind went through any possible scenario in which she could actually rob someone, with or without her flames. It seemed that all of Penny's anger had dissipated the moment Captain Hammer was no longer in the picture, and she wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that it had.

...

"You can't be the Bloody Diamond. Everyone will think you're in league with Conflict Diamond then, and while he's a fairly good villain, he's not someone you really want to be confused with," Dr. Horrible said, shaking his head.

"Fine. What about Red Heart?" Penny asked, tugging at her red hair briefly.

"All you'll need then is a club and spade, and with Conflict, you'd be a full house!" Fury said, laughing. Her laughter faded at Penny's scowl. "Sorry, not helping..."

"This is so frustrating! You never had to put up with people commenting on your name choices!" Penny groaned.

Fury just laughed again and patted her arm briefly. "You'll think of a name soon enough."

"Remind me again why I can't just stick with Justice?" she muttered.

"Because of the Justice League of Justice," Billy said, his eye twitching.

"Just be lucky that those news choppers were too far away to hear you say that your name was Justice! Anyway, since you're with the E.L.E., you do not want people to associate you with the J.L.J. Especially not at the evil conferences and union meetings." Penny looked surprised at the idea of conferences and meetings, so Fury continued explaining, "They're both a whole shtick done by the Henchmen's Union. No one really cares what's happening, but everyone puts in an appearance just to be seen. It's one of the few times you'll see Hourglass actually mingling with other people," Fury said with a grin. "She does fortune telling for a quick buck - or hundred - and she comes away from those things with a very tidy profit, so I've heard."

"What does that have to do with me choosing a name?"

"Absolutely nothing. Just thought I'd get your mind off of the difficult decision ahead of you," Fury said, grinning again.

"Thanks... I think." Penny sighed heavily and pushed away what was left of her dinner. "I might just go for a walk and try to think of something else. It's hard to think of a name when I don't even have my flames anymore," she muttered, standing and leaving before Fury or Billy could say anything.

Deciding not to burden poor Zeke with her problems again, Penny walked through the E.L.E. headquarters and down to the room she'd first woken up in after coming back from the dead. She pressed the frame of Bad Horse's painting, and the wall slid open so she could walk down the corridor to the room. Penny was somewhat surprised at the feeling of familiarity and reassurance that flowed through her, and sat on the bed, her legs crossed beneath her.

The TV remote was still sitting on the bed, and curious to see the entertainment system for herself, Penny turned it on. The wall slid apart to reveal the large television set, and it turned on, automatically going to the last played channel. The news was just starting, and Penny was surprised to see that one of the upcoming news segments was about the J.L.J. and Captain Hammer.

Her curiosity piqued, Penny sat through three somewhat mundane news segments until Red Dwarf appeared on the screen. As he talked, she felt her hands clench and her body tremble in anger.

"Due to the unfortunate death of Captain Hammer, the world's most beloved hero, the Justice League of Justice - in collaboration with Mayor," he added, giving a nod to the man beside him, " - have decided to erect a statue of Captain Hammer in the town square. A number is at the bottom of your screen to donate money to this worthy cause. We cannot let the future generations of this town forget who Captain Hammer was, and how he saved us time and time again," Red Dwarf said.

The journalists had already started to applaud before he'd even finished talking, and the phone number for donations at the bottom of the screen was so bright that Penny wanted to shield her eyes.

"Hey, Penny. We thought of a name for you! Whoa..." Fury cut off suddenly, her eyes wide at the sight of Penny sitting on the bed, her entire body on fire and the flames reaching the ceiling. "We really should have turned the smoke alarms back on," she mused.

"Oh, wow. How do we stop it?" Billy asked, looking at the flames nervously.

The flames were reaching the TV now, and no one knew what the Evil Librarian would do if her television set was melted.

"Hey, Penny! Think of Billy boy, would you?" Fury called over the roar of the flames.

Blinking a few times, Penny looked over at Fury and Billy. Realising that she was on fire, she yelped in surprise and the flames died down almost immediately.

"They're back?" Penny murmured, looking at her hands in wonder, a large part of her hoping it wasn't a fluke. A Captain Hammer-filled thought later proved that her power had returned, and she shook the flames away with a bright grin.

"Those donations just keep coming! We've already raised ten thousand dollars!" the news anchor said, giving everyone a broad smile.

"What?!"

Penny was outraged - _it hadn't even been ten minutes_! - and in seconds, she was up in flames again.

"Everyone at the Caring Hands shelter had to work tooth and nail just to get enough money for a week's worth of soup, yet _Captain Hammer_ gets **ten thousand dollars** for a **statue**?!" she growled.

"Oh, this is going to be _bad_," Fury said, sounding delighted.

"Should we get popcorn again?" New whispered to Blue, who just shook her head at her.

Penny attempted to do some breathing exercises that were meant to calm her, but they seemed to be of little use now. She thought of Billy, and the flames actually became worse, rising up to the ceiling and becoming even hotter.

_No_, she realised belatedly, _that wasn't Billy. The man in her mind - with his red Doctor's suit, black gloves, and goggles - was none other than Dr. Horrible. Billy, her Billy buddy, was different. But at the same time, they were the same, just as she was with the person who had defeated Captain Hammer_.

As Billy's face surfaced in her mind, the flames around Penny began to lessen once more, and disappeared completely at the thought of his smile. Experimentally, she thought of Dr. Horrible, and the sound of his evil laugh, and the flames appeared once more, hotter and brighter than before. She grinned at Billy and Fury, unaware that her grin was on par with Bad Horse's death whinny.

"Can you call Professor Normal? I want to train," Penny said.

"Never mind Normal; we'll get Dead Bowie. **You** haven't signed a contract," Fury said with an evil cackle.

Penny wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that, but by Billy's paling face, she figured it wouldn't bode well for Dead Bowie.

...

"Hey, Moist, how's it going?" Billy asked as he opened the door to his friend.

"Bad. It's like an inferno out there," Moist replied, his breathing laboured and his body covered in so much sweat that it was actually dripping off his fingertips.

He waved to Penny briefly, making his way to the kitchen and opening the fridge and freezer doors. There was a low moan of appreciation at the cool temperature, and Billy gave Penny a grin. His grin faded when he saw that she wasn't paying him attention.

"I like that," she murmured.

"Uh, what?" Billy asked, his eye twitching.

"Inferno. That can be my super name," she said, smiling at him brightly.

"Hey, did I just help you choose your name?" Moist asked, coming out of the kitchen with an ice pack on his neck.

"Yeah, you did. Thanks," Penny said warmly.

"Awesome," Moist said, looking exceptionally pleased with himself.

"Whatever," Billy muttered.

"No one else has that name, do they?" Penny asked, looking at Billy, who flushed slightly at the sudden attention.

"No, I've never heard of anyone with that name. Not even a henchman," he admitted.

Moist agreed quickly, listing off a few names that were fire-related but none that sounded the same.

"Now you've just got to choose your outfit, colours, and catchphrase," Moist said with a grin. Then his grin faded, and he leant to Penny to whisper, "Don't let Dr. Horrible help you with the catchphrase."

"I'm right here, Moist. I _can_ hear you," Billy said, glaring at him.

"Oh, in that case... _Really_ don't let him help you with the catchphrase," Moist amended, his voice louder now.

Penny was somewhat overwhelmed at the idea of needing to pick an outfit, colours, and a catchphrase, and didn't seem inclined to reply.

...

Billy paced outside of Fury's apartment, wondering what was taking them so long. _It was an outfit, for Bad Horse's sake! It wasn't like they were plotting the end of civilisation as they knew it! He'd been waiting for thirty whole minutes now. He could have been fixing his Freeze Ray, making modifications to his Pulse Gun, or even getting the Transmatter Ray to change the cumin-scented gold back to actual gold bars_.

After what felt like hours, the door finally opened. Turning to say something about the time they'd taken to choose _one_ outfit, Billy suddenly lost his ability to talk. Penny was standing in the doorway, her usual shirt and skirt replaced with a slinky red dress, her hair curled and done up, and Billy was fairly sure he was actually drooling at the sight of her.

"Told you you'd knock him dead," Fury said, grinning. "Although, I didn't think it'd be _this_ literal," she added with a frown when Billy didn't move.

"Billy? Are you all right?" Penny asked, stepping forward to him.

Still looking a bit dazed, Billy nodded. He blinked a few times, coughed slightly, and gave her a smile.

"You look stunning," he said, his smile turning into a broad grin.

"Stunning's better than what I was going for," Fury muttered to Blue, who laughed behind her hand.

"Wait until you see this," Penny said, her entire body lighting up a second later courtesy of Dr. Horrible.

The flames disappeared with a thought of Billy, and she grinned brightly when her dress was still on her body.

"It took five different tries to get a material that wouldn't burn to dust the moment she lit up," Fury muttered, shaking her head.

"I didn't particularly want to be known as the Naked Evildoer or something."

"Yeah, he really didn't last long... What?" Fury said when she saw their expressions. "He was a nudist back in the 70s and made people strip when he robbed them. Don't ask where he hid his weapon," she added, shuddering delicately.

"We won't," Billy said quickly, his eye twitching. "So, what would you like to do first? The First American Bank of America has just installed a new security system that we can test out," he offered to Penny, grinning.

"We can arrange an appointment with the Henchmen's Union if you want a henchman already?" Fury offered alternatively.

"Can we go to the Caring Hands shelter? I'd really like to see how everyone's doing," Penny admitted.

"I really don't think they'd handle it well if you showed up when you were meant to be dead," Billy replied apologetically.

She nodded with a sigh. "I thought you'd say something like that."

"We can go," Blue offered, stepping forward with New.

"They don't know who we are," New added with a nod.

"You'd do that for me?" Penny asked in surprise.

They both nodded, smiling brightly. When Fury gave a nod, New and Blue disappeared.

"Come on, let's go somewhere we can talk while those two are gone," Fury said, looping her arm through Penny's.

She started to hum the wedding march softly, her steps purposeful as she guided Penny down the hallway.

Billy stayed where he was, uncertain as to whether their talk would include him or not.

"Coming, Billy buddy?" Penny called over her shoulder.

He hurried after them, trying not to grin too broadly.

When they were all seated in Fury's apartment, she gave a nod to Borrowed and Old, and the two women seemed to shimmer before their eyes. They stepped through the apartment in a quick succession, their hands reaching into the walls and heads ducking into doors to look into adjoining rooms.

"What are they doing?" Billy asked, staring at the two bridesmaids in abstract horror.

Fury just smiled and didn't answer. When Old and Borrowed returned, taking seats across from her, she looked at Billy and answered his question. "They were double checking your room for bugs, hidden cameras, and other technologies designed for spying on people."

"I already did that," he replied indignantly.

"The bugs and cameras are changed every other night. I told you the E.L.E.'s evil, not stupid. Do you really think Bad Horse would let you stay in the E.L.E. Headquarters if he didn't have a close eye on you? _Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer_," Fury quoted the old adage.

"_Enemy_?" Billy echoed in confusion. " But I'm not... I could never... He's _Bad Horse_!"

"Exactly, and we're all villains. With the possible exception of Penny, we all have our own agendas that we want to fill. I joined the E.L.E. for its resources so I could find Ira. You joined so you could rule the world. Tie-Die joined up so she could hide from the happy people in the world; Professor Normal joined so he could get away from his boring life and have somewhere else to experiment and create his cyborg self; Dead Bowie joined for whatever reason; and I'm fairly sure Fake Thomas Jefferson joined because of Dead Bowie, or perhaps it was the powdered wigs," Fury mused, grinning.

"Your point?" he asked.

"My point is that if we didn't have Bad Horse to lead us on the E.L.E., then all of us would be bickering and fighting for his top position. Therefore, because we're all villains of such a high calibre, he wants to keep us close to him under the guise of him leading and uniting us as evildoers, when infact all he wants to do is make sure that we're not planning a revolt against him."

"That's a highly thought-out conspiracy, Fury," Billy muttered, not entirely convinced of her argument.

"I know. I've had a lot of time to watch things here while I waited between each of my searches for Ira," Fury said, shrugging.

"So what do you plan on doing about it?" Penny asked, looking between them. "I don't know about you, but I really don't think that Bad Horse is going to let you rule the world, Billy buddy."

"I've already found and disposed of Ira, so I'm thinking of going freelance," Fury admitted.

"I don't think I'm evil enough to be on the Evil League of Evil," Penny said quietly, trying not to look at Billy, knowing that she'd see his disappointment. "But I'm not as good and happy as I was, so it's not like I'd be able to go to the Justice League of Justice either... I don't really know what to do."

"Put the power in different hands."

Billy's whispered words made both women turn and stare at him.

"Did I just hear you correctly, Dr. Horrible?" Fury asked incredulously. "You want to challenge Bad Horse's reign?"

"I-I-I..." Billy stammered, not entirely sure _what_ he meant.

_He'd wanted to be on the Evil League of Evil for years! For years upon years! And now he was talking about overthrowing Bad Horse?! What on earth was wrong with him_?

"We're not strong enough to do that. Not yet, at least," Penny added.

"What do you suggest then?" Fury asked her, seeing that Billy still seemed to be in some sort of shock.

"We create our own League. Not quite justice, not quite evil, but somewhere in-between," Penny said firmly, looking between them for their response.

Billy was still trying to wrap his head around the whole situation, but Fury looked intrigued.

"I think I could do that. I'd be able to punish men for being evil bastards, but I wouldn't have to kill them all of the time. Do you know how hard it is to get blood out of a silk and tulle wedding dress?" she muttered, looking down at her gown.

Penny grinned at her. Then she turned to Billy, her grin fading quickly. "What do you think, Billy buddy?"

He looked at her for a moment, scrutinising her, and suddenly wishing that he had Hourglass' power of foresight. Billy would know in a moment whether this would be a good idea, how it would end (_he knew that he wouldn't be able to handle it if Penny died on him for a _**_third_**_ time_), and what would happen to the world if they actually went through with this. There was no sudden epiphany, no image from the future to help him determine the present, and Billy swallowed forcibly. _Was he willing to walk away from everything that he'd longed for and worked towards for so hard over the years? Was he willing to follow Penny away from it all, to put his life, his horrible-ness, his everything good and bad, in her hands? Did he trust her that much_?

"I'll do it," Dr. Horrible said, his words surprising, but it was his firm and certain tone that had him surprised the most.

Delight filled Penny's face and she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him eagerly.

_Well, if this was the way he got thanked, he'd have to do things like that more often_, he thought, trying not to grin too broadly against her lips.

"All right, you two, untangle your tongues before you make Borrowed sick," Fury muttered. "It's all well and good to say that we'll do this, but we don't have any money, or a building to set this up in."

"There's a building on the edge of town. The Caring Hands Homeless Shelter were going to use it for their building, but deemed it too far on the outskirts to be useful. It might be good if we're planning on doing this," Penny suggested.

"Sounds good. Now, what about money?"

"I've got a few bags of cumin. Just give me until the end of the week, and they'll be gold bars again," Dr. Horrible promised, still floating after Penny's kiss.

Neither one was quite sure what he meant, but Penny and Fury nodded anyway.

"Now, to think of a name," Penny mused.

"How about the Evil League of Justice? It's a mix between the two, so why not use their own names? We could be called Karma for short," Fury said, grinning.

"Have you thought about this before?" Billy asked, raising his eyebrow at her.

"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer, Billy boy."

"Which means _yes_," he muttered.

Fury just grinned and let his comment slide. _For now_. They had work to do, people to bribe, buildings to buy, and henchmen to recruit.

...

End of Act VII.

Thank you for reading; I hope you liked it!


	10. New beginnings

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_...

...

Act VIII, pt. 1 - New beginnings

...

Despite his promises, Dr. Horrible took two weeks to turn the bags of cumin-scented liquid back into gold bars. He attempted to explain how he did it, but the terminology and jargon went straight over Penny's head. Fury didn't care about an explanation, she was just happy about the gold bars than anything else. Within a matter of hours, she had converted one of the bars into cash, and Penny left with Blue and Borrowed to buy the building that the Caring Hands had rejected.

"What are you going to spend the money on first? Outfits, henchmen, weapons?" Fury asked, looking to Dr. Horrible when Penny had left.

He blinked a few times. "What?"

"You really have no idea how this whole schtick works, do you?" Fury asked, sighing.

"Yes, I do," Dr. Horrible replied indignantly. "Rob a bank, use the money to build more ray guns, rob another bank..."

"And where do you store your money?" Fury asked, stopping his response. "You obviously can't put it in a bank, because by your estimate, you'll end up robbing yourself in the end," she said, rolling her eyes. "How much is the hourly rate for a henchman? How much do you need to build a ray gun that works, as well as pay your henchman? Or henchmen, if you're planning on using more than one person to help you rob the bank? Then, if you have other villains with you, you'll need to give them their share... Or kill them if you're greedy enough. So you'll need to know where and how to get rid of the bodies in that instance."

"I wouldn't **kill** them," he said, feeling a bit more wary towards Fury considering how easily she'd brought the option up.

"Good to know. Now, you've got your money from the bank, so how do you get away from the police? Where do you hide?"

Dr. Horrible was quiet for a second. While with the E.L.E., it was so much easier to know what to do. Bad Horse supplied the getaway car and drivers, and they knew where to go. He'd always been caught up in the fact that he had the money that he hadn't paid attention to where they'd gone to get away from the police and back to E.L.E. headquarters.

"I'll take your silence as a big 'I have no idea', and let's leave it at that, shall we?" Fury muttered. "This is going to take _a lot_ of organising, Billy boy. You can't just hide in your lab while Penny and I do all the work."

They both went quiet as the door opened. Penny walked in with Blue and Borrowed, shutting the door behind them.

"Well, that didn't take long," Fury murmured suspiciously.

"We got the building," Penny said, grinning brightly.

"Much cheaper than the listed price too," Blue added, Borrowed laughing behind her hand.

"Did you threaten the salesperson?" Fury asked her maids sternly.

"Only a _little_. He was being pushy," Borrowed justified.

"It's true; he was being a bit pushy about it," Penny added when Fury looked to her. She just didn't mention that the maids had specifically chosen a male real estate agent so they could threaten him if the need arose.

Well, Fury couldn't fault them for that. She loathed pushy salespeople herself, and probably would have set the maids on him if she'd been there anyway.

"Fine. Let's get there and see what the damage is," Fury said with a slight grin.

...

Compared to some of the places she'd seen during her work at the Caring Hands shelter, Penny was pleasantly surprised by the state of the building. By the expressions on Billy and Fury's faces, they weren't quite so optimistic about the graffiti and questionable smells permeating from the walls. While they were standing in the foyer uncertainly, Penny opened the building's blueprint and began to explore, her exit unnoticed by the others.

"We're going to need henchmen, and fast," Fury said, her face a shade paler than usual.

"Play a couple of show tunes loud enough and the Pink Pummeler will be here in minutes," Billy muttered.

"That's not a bad idea," Fury said.

"What? I was... joking," he said, sighing in defeat when Fury's maids went out to the car and turned the stereo up loudly.

He could hear them bickering over the worst radio station, and shook his head briefly, turning to Penny. Only, she was gone.

"Where'd Penny go?" he asked Fury.

"Penny?" Fury called, frowning when there was no answer.

Making their way through the building, both Billy and Fury started running when they heard a loud smash of glass.

"Penny?! Are you all right?" Billy asked, seeing a large cloud of dust and smoke pouring out of one of the rooms.

"I'm fine! Come look at this!" she called back jovially.

Cautiously, Billy stepped forward, Fury waving for him to continue as she inched her way over the somewhat rotting floor. Behind her, Borrowed was making a tally of things that needed to be fixed and the approximate cost.

"Look at this, Billy! I don't even think the real estate knew this was here! It's amazing!"

Billy looked into the room, blinking in surprise when he saw that Penny was nowhere in sight. Seeing glass scattered across the floor, he made his way over to the broken mirror. Penny was inside, a fire burning in front of her calmly so that she could see inside the windowless room properly.

"This can be your laboratory, can't it?" she asked, looking to him brightly.

"Wouldn't be a secret one, and I'm fairly sure Billy boy needs some pipes in there for all of the liquid-y stuff he boils and whatever else. You could make this your own private space," Fury suggested, grinning when Penny (and the fire behind her) lit up even more.

"Fury's right. I do need certain things for my secret laboratory to be fully functional. The first thing is that it be kept secret. I'll go look for something while you two organise this room, if you like?" Billy offered.

"Fine with me. What do you think about knocking a window into the wall there? I know ways of making it almost invisible to the outside world," Fury added, looking to Penny.

Billy hurried off while they were pre-occupied, hoping that the decorative talk would be long enough for him to find the perfect place for his secret laboratory.

...

There were a few arguments and a lot of heated discussions, but their own headquarters were eventually set up in a matter of weeks, the building altered and restored as required.

Fury ended up with her very own wing, complete with separate bedrooms and small ensuite bathrooms for her maids. Penny had her apartment with her not-so-secret room (which now included a window, thanks to Borrowed and Blue), and Billy had both a laboratory _and_ a secret laboratory set up somewhere in the building. There was a common area with a TV, a training area that was used more by the women than Billy, and Fury had put her foot down (along with the maids' feet) on getting a costume room. (Billy still didn't see why everyone couldn't get changed in their own apartments, but he wasn't going to argue with them about it again. The maids were _mean_, and twisting his nipple until it turned purple was something that not even Captain Hammer was cruel enough to do.)

Moist had been offered a role as henchman and joined them in an instant. He muttered something about the rent and how he hoped that they accepted online transfers rather than cheques, dragging his old and battered suitcase up to his own apartment.

Pink Pummeler came next, and after the first two days of show tunes on repeat, Billy sound-proofed Pink Pummeler's apartment just so he wouldn't be subjected to yet another round of _Singin' in the Rain_.

Hourglass kindly denied their offer, but mentioned something about looking at the pipelines on the east side of the building. The next day, Fury and her maids had caught a group of kids trying to strip the copper from their pipes. She'd set the maids on them, and Borrowed was just about to dig her pointy-toed high heel into one of the kids when Penny had come around the corner. She'd chastised the four boys, and sent them away with a brochure for the Caring Hands shelter who would be able to find them some actual work.

"Where'd you get the brochures from?" Fury asked warily, wondering if her friend had started to carry them duct taped to her body or something.

"When I came here to look at the building for Caring Hands, I left a bunch of brochures in case any homeless people found their way inside. I found them where I'd left them and didn't want them to go to waste," Penny said, shrugging.

"Those brats are probably just littering with them," Borrowed muttered, sour that she'd been stopped from kicking the boy.

"Maybe, but it's a bunch of brochures that I don't have to hang on to now," Penny said with a grin.

Borrowed muttered under her breath, shimmered slightly and disappeared a moment later.

"Why did you come around here anyway? Those boys weren't crying that loudly, were they?" Fury asked, frowning slightly.

"Oh, no. I didn't even hear them until I got to the corner. Do your maids always gag people with veils?"

"Sometimes; it depends on their moods."

"Huh... Anyway, I came by to install this camera on the wall for Billy. He's inside worrying about the message Hourglass sent, thinking that something catastrophic is going to happen to the pipes. Obviously, it wasn't that huge or catastrophic, but the security measure is a good idea anyway," Penny said, setting down the step ladder and moving to set up the camera properly.

A few minutes later, the camera whirred to life, a red bulb lighting up. Billy moved the camera angle to show that everything was all right, and Penny gave him a bright smile before getting off the ladder again. Three cameras down, twelve more to go...

"So, have you thought any more about who your henchman will be now that Hourglass has replied?" Penny asked as she went around the corner with Fury.

"Not really; I'm not fond of the idea of getting someone new. I like my maids; they know exactly what I need without all of the pesky communication hassles. Besides, I don't really want to advertise for a henchman anyway; I don't want it getting out that we're setting up a new League. We don't want to come under attack before we're ready," Fury said, shrugging. "What about you? Billy boy's decided to use both Moist and Pummeler. I thought of Bait and Switch for you, but those two are a handful and a headache at the best of times, and I don't think Moist will like one of his ex-dates staying in the same building."

"I don't know either. I don't know enough about superheroes and villains to know who'll be up for joining this. We're not exactly heroes or villains, and most people need the distinction. I'll probably look at the henchman catalogue that Moist offered me yesterday," Penny said, shrugging.

"Why don't you do that now, and I'll finish off installing the cameras?" Fury offered.

"I can't yet; the catalogue's still drying off."

"Oh, right."

"Thanks anyway, Fury."

"Don't mention it."

Penny just grinned brightly and nodded.

...

"Sir? The group that you asked for have arrived. Would you like me to send them through?"

The Red Dwarf sighed as he looked through his office's two-way mirror to the group of boys waiting out in the foyer. They'd been brought in by someone from the Sharing Pants shelter, or whatever it was called, saying that they'd seen a ghost. The Red Dwarf had been alive longer than most people knew, and he knew that there was no such thing as ghosts. So, of course, he'd been intrigued to hear exactly what it was that they had seen.

He'd told Lieutenant Frost to take them on a tour so he could finish off his meeting with the Mayor. After hearing his news about withdrawing funding to increase the politicians' bonuses, the Red Dwarf wasn't sure that he could handle any more egotists in his office; especially not four teenaged ones. But this ghost problem wouldn't resolve itself...

"Fine, send them in," he replied over the intercom, letting go of the button to sigh heavily.

_This had better be worth it_.

...

"Is it a requirement of henchmen to be so dimwitted?" Penny asked with a groan, her head smacking against the table she was sitting at.

She'd been interviewing henchmen (and women) for the better part of the day, as so far, not one had seemed intelligent enough to hold a conversation with.

"It kind of is. Most of the time, henchmen just need to hold a gun, collect the money, be the muscle or brawn; you don't want them being too smart because then they can double-cross you," Fury said, giving her head a sympathetic pat.

"Tell me the truth: am I being too picky?"

"How would I know? My henchwomen already came built-in, so to speak. You're interviewing for your very own hench-person; you need it to be someone that you can rely on and trust. If that includes requirements for tall, dark and handsome, then so be it."

"Tall, dark and handsome? No thanks, already done that," Penny said, scoffing.

Fury quickly pulled her checklist out of the way of Penny's burning hand.

"I'd prefer short, fair, and handsome," Penny said with a grin.

"Whatever rocks your boat, hun. Of course, I'd prefer all men to be dead, so who am I to criticise?"

"Speaking of, have you gone on a date since Ira?"

"Does killing Ira count?" Fury asked, grinning.

"Uh, no."

"Then no. I'd like to keep it that way."

"What about... Other things?"

"Are you talking about sex?" Fury asked, chuckling slightly when Penny nodded, her cheeks burning. "Well, let me just say that I'll always want batteries for birthday presents and Christmas."

The door opened and Billy looked inside warily. Fury laughing never seemed to bode well for him - or the male gender in general.

"There's another henchman out here. Last one for the day," Billy added.

"All right, send him in, please Billy buddy," Penny said, smiling at him.

He grinned a little foolishly and nodded, leaving to usher in the final applicant.

"Zeke?" Penny asked in surprise.

Fury didn't let her surprise stun her as Penny had, and was up in a moment, her maids surrounding Zeke in the blink of an eye.

"Whoa, calm down there!" Zeke cried out when Blue brandished the bouquet of poison flowers in his direction.

"What are you doing here? Did Bad Horse send you?" Fury asked, her eyes narrowing.

"No! He... He doesn't know I'm here. Neither do Jordan and Jack, for that matter," he added, a sad and sombre frown forming.

"Then why are you here?" Penny asked, moving to stand beside Fury.

She wasn't sure what she would do if he was lying and Bad Horse had sent him, but Penny wasn't entirely comfortable with Fury hurting Zeke either. He was her friend. Well, she thought of him as a friend, at least.

"I wanted to apply to be your henchman," he said, tipping his hat slightly.

"Why? What about the Chorus? What about Bad Horse?" Penny asked, still confused as to his presence there.

Zeke gave a slight laugh. "I'm thinking of going solo. The band's lost their way, and this isn't what I signed on for."

"However cliché that may be, it still doesn't explain why you're here. You're aware that the henchman rate is almost half what you're paid with Bad Horse, right?" Fury asked, glaring.

"Yeah, and with the money I made with Bad Horse, I should be able to survive on the lowly henchman rate if I'm accepted. I can't take the killing anymore. I mean, we're not putting the death rays in their hands, but I always felt that we were singing people to their deaths. The things Bad Horse had us sing gave me nightmares. I'm actually kind of grateful that most people failed," he said, his voice raw.

"If you felt like that, why not leave sooner?" Penny asked gently.

"Because I didn't have anywhere else to go. I couldn't go to the J.L.J., and I had Jordan and Zack to look after. I couldn't leave them behind."

"But you can now?" Fury asked, still suspicious.

Zeke coughed slightly. "I was hoping this would be a more... part-time basis. I can't leave them there; they'll go back to trying to drink themselves to death. I can't have their deaths on my hands too."

Penny looked at Fury pleadingly, and the white-clad woman sighed, rolling her eyes. "Fine, but he's your responsibility."

"Wait," Old said, frowning as she moved closer to Zeke. She pinched his cheek, pulling him down to eye-level and easily ignoring his surprised cry of pain. "What exactly can you do, young man? No use to anyone if you all you can do is sing at people," she muttered.

Zeke pulled out of her grasp sharply, rubbing his cheek gingerly. "Singing isn't all I can do, ma'am. Well, it's part of it. Will you let me demonstrate?" he asked, looking at the women surrounding him.

Fury nodded reluctantly and the maids moved away. A dummy was placed in front of him but Zeke shook his head.

"My power won't work on that. It's got to be alive, something living," he explained.

Before anyone could do anything, Fury stepped forward. "Don't look at me like that, Blue. You know as well as I do it won't work on you girls properly if they need to be living. Penny, stay back," she added with a fierce glare, "not even I know what the Chorus' true power was like."

Penny nodded and moved away with the maids, all of them watching with a mix of curiosity and fear.

"Be my baby, lil' darling,

And I'll look after you always.

Won't have to worry 'bout a thing,

If you'll just be mine, lil' darling."

Penny watched carefully as he sang. She saw Fury's eyes start to glaze over, her cheeks flushing as her lips parted. Despite the distance between them, Penny could have sworn that she could see Fury's pupils dilate. Around her, the maids seemed to get restless. Fury took a step toward Zeke as he finished his song, the maids echoing her action.

Fury came to her senses when her ears stopped ringing a second after he finished singing. On realising that he'd affected her emotions in some way, she stepped forward and slapped Zeke as hard as she could. His hat off with the force behind her slap, but Fury was already gone by the time it hit the floor. The maids disappeared after her, too worried to retaliate against Zeke in any way. He sighed and bent down to pick up his hat, brushing it off before replacing it on his head.

"Well, I guess that's it, huh? Thanks for not laughing me out of here when I came in, Penny," Zeke said, tilting his hat to her before turning to leave.

"Wait, Zeke. Please, sit down. Can you tell me what you just did? I know what I saw, but it... It didn't make any sense," Penny said, frowning.

He nodded and sat on the chair, taking his hat off. "The Chorus, well, we sing and relay messages for Bad Horse. We weren't always well-received by people Bad Horse needed to communicate with, and... I don't really know what happened, but we woke up with the worst hangovers and found that we could affect the emotions of others. But only when we sing. It has something to do with sound frequencies and other stuff that Professor Normal didn't explain overly well, but that's the basics."

"So when you were singing to Fury just then, you were affecting her emotions too?"

Zeke nodded.

"And you chose, what? Desire, lust? And you decided to push _those_ emotions on Fury? You really didn't think _that_ through, did you?"

"Uh, I guess not. She's going to kill me, isn't she?" Zeke asked, wincing.

"I don't honestly know. She might," Penny muttered. She sighed and looked up at him. "Tell me the truth, Zeke: what were you expecting to get out of today? Would you honestly leave the Chorus if it came down to it?"

"I don't think I can answer either of those questions. I don't know what I was expecting, just that I came here with... oh, I don't even know what to call it. Hope, maybe? Hope that I could be part of something that didn't involve killing, that didn't make me want to drink myself to death every night. I had to sing at those people, and most of them died soon after. There's a reason there were only eight members in the Evil League of Evil, y'know. Villain life expectancy was so low that if they weren't defeated, locked up, or killed by Captain Hammer and the rest of the Justice League of Justice, they got so disheartened with it all that most of 'em killed themselves before their forty years of life were up. Bad Horse is the oldest in the E.L.E., then it's us in the Chorus. I'm not even 35 yet; I don't want to die with a bottle in my hand," Zeke said, a sob of laughter escaping him.

Penny was silent for a long moment, looking at the list of questions she had on the clipboard in front of her. The letters and words seemed to swim before her vision uselessly, and she looked up at Zeke with a smile.

"You're hired. Welcome to the Justice League of Evil."

...

After letting Zeke into the room, Billy went to close the building's front doors. The draft was freezing him, and they still hadn't finished carpeting the floors. Or doing much of the interior design stuff, really. There was only so much money Billy could force himself to part with, and his introductory party at the E.L.E. had taken a lot of his share already. The security and surveillance equipment had cost two gold bars, and he was still trying to get the transmatter ray to work again so he could get more from the bank. Even if it came through smelling like cumin, it would be better than nothing at all.

A faint crashing sound had him heading down the corridor quickly. It was in the opposite direction to where Fury and Penny were, so he knew it wasn't them. Billy doubted that the maids would be leaving Fury alone in the room with a male. He didn't have time to change into his Dr. Horrible outfit, but he had a ray gun in his pocket. If it didn't malfunction, he should be able to deal with whatever this was on his own. Billy rounded the corner, gun aimed and his fiercest expression on his face.

"Put that thing away before you poke your eye out, froghurt. If you come another foot into my kitchen, I'll add you to the stew," Kiev threatened over his shoulder, glaring at Billy.

"Wha... What are you doing here?" he asked, his hands dropping to his sides limply.

"No one ever reads their contracts," Kiev muttered, sighing heavily. "Penny, Fury and her maids, and you all have contractual obligations to fulfil. I still have another 3,428 recipes to try out, and since you lot have left, the E.L.E's become a very boring place. No diversity there, it's all meat and veg. If I wanted that, I would've stayed at the steakhouse."

"So... You've basically come here because Penny's a vegetarian?"

"Yes. As well as contracts that you've all signed. Not to mention, there's technically more people here than at E.L.E. now."

Billy frowned slightly. "Me, Penny, Fury, Moist, Pummeler. Compared to Bad Horse, Dead Bowie, Professor Normal, Fake Thomas Jefferson, the Chorus, Snake Bite and Tie-Die. Think your maths skills are a bit off there, Kiev."

"You didn't include Fury's maids, or Zeke, if he gets the henchman position. I did say _technically_," he added with a slight grin. "Now, leave my kitchen or you don't get fed."

"I'm pretty sure that's against the contract," Billy said with a chuckle.

"Appendix B, 2.1.1: As creator of the contract, I am allowed to change the contract details at any moment without notice," he quoted. "I would highly recommend that you read the next contract you're given before signing it," Kiev said, turning back to his chopping board and not-too-subtly dismissing Billy.

He frowned and headed straight up to the apartment - Fury rushing past like the hounds of Hell were after her - to actually read the damn contract.

...

"Billy buddy, everything all right?" Penny asked, seeing that he was sitting on the lounge with a large stack of paper on his lap.

"Did you know that Kiev can tie us up and force-feed us against our will?" he asked.

"Uh, what?"

"Kiev, he's downstairs in the kitchen. He missed cooking a variety of meals and followed us here. Or just you, I'm still not sure. Either way, he's like a bloodhound. And he's got the right to force-feed us, according to this contract."

"Okay... That's creepy."

"You've got no idea," Billy muttered, looking to the contract in his lap with a shudder. "So how did your applicants go? Hire a henchman?" he asked, smiling and more than grateful to stop thinking about the contract.

"Yes, actually. I hired Zeke."

"Huh, okay. So his power's good, then?" Billy asked curiously.

She nodded, smiling. "He can affect people's emotions when he sings. He made Fury blush."

"Wow, no wonder she was running away like that before."

"She was running away? Where to?" Penny asked, standing already.

"To her room, I guess. I didn't really want to stop her and ask in case she killed me."

"Fair enough. I'll be back later, okay?"

"All right. Good luck," Billy said with a slight smile, not envying her the task of calming Fury at all.

Soon after Penny left, Moist knocked at the door. "Hey, whatcha doing?"

"Reading a contract that Kiev made me sign. He has the right to force-feed me when I'm unconscious. I mean, how is that even humanly possible?!"

"I don't want to know," Moist reassured him quickly. "I can pulp it down. He can't hold you to a contract if there isn't a contract," he said, grinning broadly.

"He's made electronic and paper copies. And I'm fairly sure one copy's locked in a secure vault somewhere," Billy muttered.

"Geez. He's serious about his food, huh?"

"Yes. Which reminds me: the kitchen is now out of bounds, unless you want to be added to a stew."

"Right. No more late night snacks for me," Moist muttered. "See you at dinner."

Billy made a noise of agreement, his eyes returning to the contract once more.

...

End of Act VIII, pt. 1.

Thanks for reading, hope you liked it!


	11. It doesn't have to be the end

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, or Chicago.

_Read on, oh faithful ones_...

...

Act VIII, pt. 2 - It doesn't have to be the end

...

Billy's first fight for the J.L.E. didn't go as bad as he thought it would. At least, he left the fight with nothing more than a shattered arm, which wasn't the worst injury he'd ever received in his illustrious career. Johnny - sorry, Lieutenant Frost - had finally been let loose into society after first being snapped up by the J.L.J., and had managed to freeze a civilian by accident. His ice-beam had bounced off the metal gun Dr. Horrible had been holding, and hit a spectator further down the street. (The Red Dwarf had one hell of a PR mess to clean up as that woman was the head of the local school's PTA committee. Frost might even be fired, so Billy thought it was a win, even if he had to spend a few weeks with his arm in a cast and sling.) Moist and Pummeler had to carry him away from the park (Billy had no idea what Johnny's thing was with parks; didn't he know how long it took to get the kids out of the way?!), but he couldn't stop grinning even as they drove him to the hospital. The fight between Frost and Dr. Horrible had been nothing more than a decoy, with the real crime happening in a bank three streets over.

Penny and Fury were working on their first robbery together, with their maids and Zeke in tow. Zeke performed exceptionally, standing in the line and starting off with a low hum of music, his voice growing into a complete song that had everyone lying on the floor subserviently in a few seconds. Fury had refused to work with him unless she could wear ear-plugs, despite his assurance that he wouldn't sing to her again, and had her maids communicate to her however it was they did that. Penny had given the empty bags to the workers behind the counter, asking for all of their 20 dollar notes and above. She didn't want to send the bank completely broke, after all. Fury had no such concerns and made Zeke get the security guard to lead her and the maids straight to the safety deposit boxes. When they were out of sight, Blue and Borrowed shimmered away to place Dr. Horrible's transmatter ray transmitter in the room with the gold bars. The fact that they'd left the bank without taking their bars of gold would confuse the authorities endlessly, and then when everything was locked up tight, Dr. Horrible would use the emitter and receiver of his transmatter ray to get as many gold bars as they wanted. Of course, that was the theory. Fury just hoped it worked in reality too. Their robbery was over by the time Dr. Horrible finished his fight, and Zeke stayed behind to keep everyone in a lulled state until Penny, Fury, and the maids were gone. When the police arrived, Zeke slipped away from the crowd in all of the confusion and headed down to the E.L.E. headquarters with a whistle and spring in his step.

"Job well done, but some aspects could have been handled better," Fury murmured, looking at Billy's arm with a frown.

"_Hand_led! Oh, you're funny, Fury. Funny Fury, Fury's funny," Billy sang lightly.

Moist's eyes widened when the maids appeared suddenly, and he quickly stepped in front of his friend. "Just ignore him, he's high on whatever drugs the hospital gave him. Isn't that right, Pummeler?"

Pummeler had backed away at the sight of Fury's maids, and as he was standing close to the exit, he gave a quick nod before running away completely.

"All right, Billy, let's get you upstairs before you get yourself killed, buddy," Moist muttered, guiding him towards the door.

"I don't wanna!" Billy cried.

"Oh, you're going to be a handful, aren't you?" Moist said, not quite under his breath.

Billy laughed at the pun. "Hey, Moist, I didn't know you were funny! You're almost as funny as..."

Moist covered Billy's mouth with his hand - despite Billy's express instruction to _never_ do that - and practically shoved him out of the room, laughing nervously as Fury and her maids watched them leave.

"Fury, are you sure you're all right?" Penny asked softly.

"I've told you already that I'm fine. Stop asking," Fury snapped.

"See, you say that you're fine, but then you bite my head off. Will you just talk to me about what happened?"

"No. I don't want to talk about it. There's nothing to talk about, anyway!" Fury said, stalking out with her maids a step behind her.

Penny had gone after Fury when Billy had told her that she'd run to her bedroom, but Fury had refused to open her door or say anything, even sending the maids out to send Penny away. That had been two and a half weeks ago, and Fury had been short-tempered with everyone since. Penny was reaching the end of her patience, and was seriously considering starting a fire in Fury's room just to get her to come out at night, or at least for dinner. The maids were taking food to her from Kiev (_I don't care what mood Fury's in, she signed a contract and has to eat what I've cooked. Now, either you take it to her, or I will_! It seemed that he took his contracts seriously and didn't seem as scared of the maids as he had been once.), but they still refused to let anyone see Fury.

Sighing heavily, Penny started to leave, intent on seeing whether Billy had made it upstairs all right with Moist leading him. _She'd have to send him to find out where Pummeler went_, Penny thought to herself with a slight frown.

"Psst!"

The noise startled Penny and she looked around, a frown on her face. She saw Blue hiding at the door, glancing out into the corridor to ensure that she hadn't been missed. Penny hurried over to her, wondering what all of the secrecy was about.

"Don't worry about Fury, Penny. She's just taking some time to getting used to having feelings towards a man that didn't involve tearing his throat out with her bare hands," Blue whispered.

"What?" Penny asked, confused.

"That song Zeke sung. It was pretty damn powerful, and she's finally realised that she's actually attracted to him. Realised, but not admitted, so don't go thinking of a white wedding there," she added abruptly, seeing the look on Penny's face.

"But if that's all it is, why's she locking herself in her room? It's not like Zeke's actually here."

Blue giggled, hiding her mouth behind her hand. "You remember that comment about batteries, don't you?"

"You mean she's... _Oh_. Oh, wow," Penny said as her namesake finally dropped. "What's she going to do about it? I mean, it's not like Zeke knows. He thinks she hates him."

"We know that. We're planning on kidnapping him soon if she doesn't do something about it," Blue admitted, grinning. "Just stop asking her about it, okay? Fury's already embarrassed about it enough. The loss of control was bad enough, but then to actually get bombarded with feelings was a heavy blow for her."

"Ah, all right then. Let me know if you need extra rope to tie Zeke up with," Penny muttered.

Blue laughed again, shimmered and disappeared. Penny shook her head and went upstairs to help Moist with a drugged-up Billy.

...

"It is with great sadness that I inform you of Lieutenant Frost's early retirement. His decision was not an easy one, but we at the Justice League of Justice are hoping to move past this time and onto a better and brighter future," the Red Dwarf said. "And now, without further adieu, I present the J.L.J.'s newest member: the Bloody Widow."

The applause for the Bloody Widow started off strong, but the woman's actual appearance made the gathered reporters feel a bit uneasy towards her, that much was clear even through a television screen. Then she lifted her blood-splattered veil, facing them all with a serene smile, and the reporters finished their applause on a higher note. _She wasn't some sort of disfigured monster under the veil, after all_.

"FURY! GET IN HERE NOW!" the maids called out in unison.

"What?"

Fury was concerned that they were talking in unison and ran into the room, ignoring the fact that she was only dressed in a slip. She stopped short on seeing the woman on the screen, and who she was standing next to.

"_Betty fucking Kenton_?!" she screeched, her wedding dress appearing on her body immediately.

Blue and New hurried to hold her back from disappearing to go kill Betty.

"You need to think about this clearly, Fury. She's on national TV being introduced as the J.L.J.'s newest member. You can't just show up and kill her for no reason. She hasn't even announced you as her arch-nemesis yet!" Borrowed said practically.

"I don't care! I'll tear the bitch to shreds! I'll choke her to death with her own fucking veil! I'll..."

"You will do nothing of the sort, Francesca Lancaster!" Old said firmly, and at her words, Fury stopped thrashing about in Blue and New's arms. "You are acting like a spoiled little child, not a grown woman ready to be married. Now stand up, face this problem like an adult, and do what you do best: _think three steps ahead_!"

"One-two-three, one-two-three," Fury murmured, the waltz rhythm calming her down further.

New and Blue let go of her slowly when they were sure that Fury was calm once more, and silently stepped back to watch their bride work.

...

It had taken some time, but Penny had finally managed to get Billy to go to sleep - the drugs were helping with that, thankfully - and Moist had left to find where Pummeler had disappeared to. Penny checked the time and saw that Kiev's dinner would be served in less than an hour, so she settled for a glass of juice rather than eating the apple that was sitting in the fruit basket. She sat on the lounge and closed her eyes with a small sigh as she sipped at her juice, hoping that Billy would be all right, and that Fury might actually come out of her room sometime soon.

She finished her juice and had just finished putting the rinsed glass on the dish rack when there was a knock at the door. It was too early for Kiev, Fury was still locked in her room as far as she knew, so it either had to be one of the maids or Moist telling her that Pummeler had run away, Penny determined, heading over to answer the door.

"Emergency meeting's been called in the dining room in thirty minutes," Old informed her, leaving before Penny even had time to finish opening the door completely.

"That's when dinner's scheduled! Why not just call it dinner?!" Penny called after her.

Old called something rude back over her shoulder, something that a woman of her apparent age probably shouldn't be saying, and Penny gaped after her.

"You should have heard what she called Pummeler," Moist muttered from his room further down the hall.

"I don't think I want to know. Do you have any idea what the emergency meeting's about?" Penny asked.

"It's either something to do with Lieutenant Frost's sudden retirement or the appearance of this new J.L.J. member that no one's ever heard of before. Hourglass isn't returning my messages or answering my calls," Moist added, looking at his water-proof phone with a frown.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," she said, trying to be reassuring.

Moist gave an uncertain nod, and returned to his apartment.

...

Everyone stayed silent as Kiev served up their meals. Penny was glad that he had been understanding about Billy's injuries, and had promised to let Kiev know the moment he was awake so he could make something for him to eat. Pummeler was sitting next to Moist, as far away from Fury as possible. Fury herself had almost fallen off the edge of her seat in her anxiety and anticipation of her news, but she'd read the contract and knew that Kiev might just poison her if she ruined his nightly dinner presentation. The maids were waiting at the back of the room, pacing her nerves out for her. She tried not to antagonise them further by thinking of her theory too much, but it was difficult. Kiev finally finished his presentation - _it was nice to be served so extravagantly, but her news was more important_, Fury thought to herself - and was about to sit down to join them for dinner when the door opened and Zeke walked in.

"I'm not late, am I?" he asked, taking his hat off before looking between them.

Fury froze, not sure what to say or do. _Oh no. Was she blushing? What was he doing here? Why did he have to come here when she had something important to say and she was going to spend all of this torturous time thinking about him singing to her again, but this time without a shirt on_.

"There's no food for you," Kiev said anxiously.

"He can share mine," Fury said, the words out of her mouth before she really processed them.

"What?" Moist asked in surprise. "Oww! I mean, never mind," he said, giving a sour look at Penny who'd kicked him.

Penny just smiled brightly in response to his expression.

"Uh, okay. You don't mind sharing lamb shanks, roast vegetables, and mash?" Kiev asked.

"I already said he can share," Fury snapped.

"I was asking Zeke," he replied shortly.

Behind Fury, Blue surreptitiously stomped her pointy-toed heel onto New's foot so she wouldn't laugh out loud and embarrass their bride further.

"It's fine with me," Zeke said. "Thank you, Ms. Leika," he said, taking a seat beside her.

Fury just nodded, her mouth dry. She was blushing, she knew she was. _When did her tongue get tied in knots? How did she speak again? Was it always this hard to talk_? She took a large gulp of her champagne to try and settle her nerves.

Kiev left to get a plate for Zeke, but everyone stayed silent until after he returned, watching as he halved Fury's dinner and served it for the Chorus singer.

"I won't be able to stay long. Jordan and Jack are getting suspicious. I think they've recognised me in the footage of the bank robbery, despite the civilian clothing I was wearing. I'm worried that they'll go to Bad Horse," Zeke admitted.

"Are you able to stall them from doing that?" Penny asked.

Moist covered his laugh with a cough, wondering if Billy's finding puns funny was contagious.

"I can try; I don't know if they'll listen to me," he said with a soft sigh.

"Can you sing at them then?" Fury asked.

"I couldn't do that; we swore to never use it on each other," Zeke said, shaking his head. "I'll talk to them, make them see reason. We've been together for years, they might understand."

An awkward silence followed as everyone continued to eat, not entirely sure what to say in response to Zeke's admission.

"All right, what's this meeting about then, Fury?" Penny asked, a smile tugging at her lips as she saw how nervous Fury still looked.

_He was sitting so close to her. She could almost feel the warmth radiating from his body. She couldn't do this_...

_Do not make me use your full name for a second time in one day, Fury. You are a confident and independent woman, now **act like it**_, Old demanded.

"Red Dwarf revealed Bloody Widow to the media and public earlier today. She's Ira's widowed wife, and she's out for my blood. She wants revenge on me because I killed him," Fury said, her sentences short but her voice firm.

"Yeah, we all figured that out when we realised who she was," Moist pointed out; Fury had told them about Betty Kenton soon after Ira's death.

"But her need for revenge is just a decoy for Red Dwarf," she replied, trying to resist the urge to set her maids on him for talking back.

"Uh, what?"

Pleased that they hadn't figured that one out, Fury continued to explain. "Bloody Widow's going to challenge me, and I'll accept, obviously. But while we're fighting, Red Dwarf and the rest of the J.L.J. are going to get even with the rest of you. You really think they're going to let our robbery slide without retribution? We embarrassed them and they need to even the score."

Silence reigned for a few long seconds. Zeke put his fork down gently, coughing slightly as if embarrassed.

"I'm sorry to say, Ms. Leika, but you're not entirely correct. The J.L.J. have approached the E.L.E.; they're planning on working together to wipe out the J.L.E. completely. Neither one likes the competition. Apparently, there's only enough room in town for two Leagues," Zeke said.

"Well, that changes things slightly," Fury muttered. "We need to train. We're not ready to fight both sides and win. One, maybe, but definitely not both."

"Let's go do that then," Penny said eagerly.

Kiev coughed meaningfully, and she sat back down quickly.

"After dinner... and dessert," she added at Kiev's second cough.

...

"I can't believe we're actually going to _him_," Billy muttered to Moist.

"I still can't believe Pummeler's not wearing pink," Moist muttered in return, glancing to the large man beside him.

Pink Pummeler stiffened slightly and glared down at Moist.

"Hey, don't give me that look. You know I don't swing that way, Pummeler," he said quickly.

_Moist had already been forced to listen to enough musicals via their thin bedroom walls to last him his next three lifetimes_.

Pummeler didn't seem quite as convinced and moved to the other side of Billy instead. Moist rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything.

"This is the address," Billy said, double-checking the house number with the one on the email printout in his hand. "You two stand behind me and look threatening. Well, Moist, maybe you should stand to the side out of sight."

"Gee, thanks, buddy."

Billy ignored his sarcastic response, adjusted his hoodie, and went to knock on the front door. Pummeler stood at the bottom of the three steps, his arms folded and biceps showing clearly, a fierce expression on his face. An elderly woman opened the door, smiling at them with an expectant look. Pummeler's expression fell immediately, and he looked to Moist in confusion, wondering if he should swap places with him now.

"Hello, dearies. What can I do for you?" the lady asked kindly.

"Uh, good afternoon. Is Johnny Snow here? We're friends of his, ma'am," Billy said, his eye twitching slightly at his blatant lie.

"Oh, that's lovely. Come inside, I have cookies. You can have some while I get Johnny," the lady said with a smile, holding the door open for them.

Despite his position around the corner of the entrance, Moist still managed to be the first one inside. Five minutes later, Billy was surprised to find himself squished between Moist and Pummeler on a plastic-covered couch, all three of them eating home-made cookies. Johnny came into the room a moment later, stopping short and frowning at the three men. Billy put his half-eaten cookie down and looked up at the teenager with a frown of his own.

"_You're_ Johnny Snow? You're just a kid," he scoffed.

"I'm seventeen," Johnny replied shortly, glaring at him. "Who are you anyway?"

"You don't recognise me? Why, Johnny, I'm disappointed," Billy said, dropping behind the couch and standing up in his Dr. Horrible outfit.

Johnny still just looked confused. "Look, if you're done with your dramatic clothes-changing thing, stop eating my Grandma's cookies and get the hell out of my house. I've got no idea who you are, weird guy, and you and your thug and a half are freaking me out."

Moist was indignant for a moment but then returned to his third cookie with a shrug.

"Wait, you're serious?" Billy asked, lifting his goggles and frowning at Johnny. "You're ice_cold1990, right?"

"Shh, keep it down. Grandma doesn't know about that stuff."

"But... You're Lieutenant Frost, how does she not know?" Billy asked in confusion.

"Oh, great, not you too! Complete strangers are even comparing me to that idiot. Look, I'm not Lieutenant Frost, okay? I don't know how many people I have to tell, but I'm not him. Yes, I wear a parker on hot days, but I have really bad blood circulation and that's why I'm always cold. I do not have super-powers!"

Billy dropped down and switched back into his normal clothes quickly, standing up once more and returning to the seat between Moist and Pummeler. He took his half-eaten cookie and chewed on the rest of it, even as Johnny stood there staring at him in disbelief and annoyance.

"You really don't think you're Lieutenant Frost?" Billy asked, finally finished chewing.

"I really don't. I'm cold, but I can't make ice-beams shoot out of my hands," Johnny replied, holding his palm straight out at them and concentrating for a moment, as if he did have a super power. "See, nothing."

"Not from where I'm sitting," Billy muttered, more than relieved that the kid wasn't at full strength.

Johnny frowned at him and looked down at his hand. Ice crystals had formed all over his palm, small cracks allowing him to bend and flex his fingers without the ice breaking completely.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

"Sorry to tell you, kid, but you were Lieutenant Frost. From what I can see, the J.L.J. altered your memory and suppressed your power so you wouldn't get suspicious. Looks like you really are more than just a poser in a parker," Billy said with a slight grin. "Come on, guys, let's get out of here. The memory suppressant's stronger than the power one; he won't be able to tell us where the J.L.J. headquarters are after all."

With that he stood up and started to leave. Pummeler was after him in a moment, glaring down at Johnny, just in case he still had to look threatening. Moist took a while longer, stuffing his pockets with cookies before grabbing as many as he could and holding one in his mouth.

"Fanks!" he said awkwardly, hurrying out after Billy and Pummeler.

Johnny stared at his hand, then looked to his bare hand and concentrated. Another thin film of ice appeared and he shook his hands out quickly, startled at the development. He ran out after the three strangers, grabbing his phone from his pocket.

"Hey! Wait up!" Johnny yelled.

Curious, Billy stopped and waited for Johnny to catch up.

"I don't remember anything about that, even if you are telling the truth," Johnny added. "But I do have these. I've been having some wildly vivid dreams in the last couple of weeks, and I drew a couple up. They might help you," he said, offering his phone to Billy.

Billy looked at the pictures, a slight frown forming as he tried to place the crudely drawn people and buildings to heroes and places he could recall. He stopped on one particular picture, his frown deepening as he zoomed in and out a few times.

"Oh, no," he murmured. Billy handed the phone back to Johnny with a small sigh. "Thanks, it did help. Hey, next time you get an offer from the J.L.J., stay in school, okay?"

Johnny gave him a weird look and jogged back to his house. Moist looked up at Billy from the back seat of the car, silently asking a question since his mouth was full again.

"I know where the J.L.J headquarters are. Come on, Pummeler, put your pink driving gloves on and let's get going," Billy said, sliding into the passenger seat.

Relieved to be able to wear something pink once more, Pummeler did as instructed. He didn't risk putting any show tunes on, knowing that Billy still had his Death Ray on him.

...

"Are you sure it's in there, Billy? Why that building in particular, and not one of the other tens of skyscrapers in town like it?" Fury asked, frowning at the plain office building on the screen.

They'd hacked into one of the security cameras across the street and Billy had trained the camera onto the building's front door. Fury could agree that people were going in and never seeming to come back out the front door again, but how did they know that there wasn't just a back entrance conveniently located elsewhere?

"Because it's right across from the Pizza Palace, and they're one of the J.L.J.'s main sponsors. Johnny was wearing one of their shirts under his parker this afternoon," Billy said.

"And we saw the White Watcher go inside the building about ten minutes after we arrived," Moist added helpfully.

"I was getting to that," Billy muttered.

"Where'd you get these cookies, Moist? I need the recipe," Kiev said, coming into their surveillance room with Penny a few steps behind him.

"Johnny Frost's grandmother made them. Hey, if you go to see her for the recipe, can you bring some more cookies back? Y'know, for research," he added quickly when Kiev didn't look happy.

"I'll try. You'd better have enough room for dinner," Kiev threatened on his way out.

"Can we get back to the matter at hand? If White Watcher is really helping the J.L.J., then we might have a problem," Fury muttered, looking at the picture of White Watcher going into the building. "Moist, you know how to contact Hourglass, don't you?"

"I've got her number. Here you go," he said with a nod, offering his phone to her.

Borrowed took it from him and cleaned the moist rubber cover with a grimace before offering it to Fury once more. The phone rang before Fury could do anything, and she tried to calm her racing heart, seeing that Hourglass was calling.

"Hello?"

"Hello Fury. I'm sending you an email listing my services and the prices for each," Hourglass informed her.

"Huh, you're good," Fury said with a grin.

"I know I am, but it's nice of you to agree. Oh, for goodness sakes..."

"Fury, are you sure that's White Watcher?" Penny asked, frowning at the screen.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm on the phone," she added with a small hiss. "What did you say, Hourglass? Is something wrong?"

"The reason that I'm asking is because she looks exactly like Hourglass," Penny said, effectively drawing Fury's attention away from her phone call.

"_That's_ what's wrong," Hourglass muttered with a sigh.

"How can you know that? You've never met her before," Fury said.

"No, but while I was recovering, I asked the Evil Librarian for information about the Annual Conference of Evil held by the Henchmen Union after you told me about it. Hourglass isn't pictured very often, but she was in a photo in the '88 conference, and I swear she looks exactly the same."

"Put me on to Penny, please Fury," Hourglass said.

Wordlessly, Fury handed the phone to her. Penny took it with a frown, wondering what would happen now.

"Congratulations, you're one of five people that now knows the truth. I would have been happier if it stayed as four, but it's not often that I get found out. I'm usually much more cautious than this."

"Why?" Penny asked, referring to her two aliases, rather than why she was cautious.

"Because I need to live, and I've grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle that both sides allows me," Hourglass replied with a shrug. "Anyway, let Fury know that I've altered my email. You can have the first consultation for free in return for your silence; choose your service wisely."

With that, the phone line went dead and Penny blinked in confusion as they all waited expectantly for some sort of response.

"Hourglass said that we can have our first consultation for free," she said, handing the phone back to Moist.

"That's a relief; she's expensive, and I don't think what's left of Billy's gold bars will be enough to cover her service fee," Fury said. "On that note, how are you going with the gold bars we got from the bank last week? Do they still look like bags of cumin?"

"They're back to solid bar shapes now, actually, so it should only take another week for them to return to gold. The bank amped up their security detail, apparently, but still can't figure out how we stole them," Billy added proudly.

Fury rolled her eyes as everyone praised Billy, and returned her attention to the footage of the J.L.J. headquarters.

...

Red Dwarf smiled briefly as Bloody Widow made her way out of the training area. She'd barely broken a sweat, but the J.L.J. cleaners would be scrubbing the blood off the training mats from her opponents for the next few hours, he was sure of it.

"Another superb training session, Bloody Widow."

"Thank you, Red. I hope that you have come to inform me that I will be able to challenge Fury Leika now?" she queried, a slight threat in her voice.

Betty had been patient in the past two weeks since her reveal to the public, even attending various TV and media interviews with the Red Dwarf. She didn't mention her relationship with Ira Goldschitz; the public wouldn't sympathise with her for very long over that. Fury Leika may have been on the board of the E.L.E., but everyone knew her history, and there were many scorned women who identified with her. Even though Betty was the victim in all of this, she knew that the public would lash out against her, and she wouldn't have her chance for revenge.

Red Dwarf's smile slipped at her tone and he glared up at her coldly. "Do not overestimate your importance to the J.L.J., Widow. You can be replaced just as easily as Frost was," he said.

"And don't you overestimate your importance to me, Dwarf. I chose to come to you due to my late husband's admiration for Captain Hammer; I can just as easily go to the E.L.E.," Bloody Widow replied simply.

Red Dwarf knew that she could and would do that, and he also knew that he wanted - _needed_ - her power. Frost had been an embarrassment to both himself and the J.L.J., but when Bloody Widow killed Fury Leika, their reputation would soar once more.

"Luckily for you, Fury Leika has somehow managed to rob the bank of all of its gold bars. The footage doesn't show how she did it, but she is the only one that has maids that disappear at her will, and no one else has come forward to claim responsibility for the robbery. The bank and the Mayor are expecting justice to be served, so you will be issuing a challenge to Fury Leika this afternoon. You will not be able to name her as your arch-nemesis until after the fight though; remember that we are the only ones that know of your history with her," Red added.

Bloody Widow was silent, but Red Dwarf was sure that he could see her smiling behind her black veil. It wasn't a pleasant smile.

...

The media were all very excited about Fury Leika and Bloody Widow's expectant fight. The time, date, and place had all been set and agreed to by both parties. It was rumoured that Red Dwarf was even going to show up to the fight to watch this time. On the surface, it looked like nothing more than a simple fight between two dress-clad women, and if Fury wasn't who she was, there might have been some lewd comments made about the type of fight it would evolve in to. For those who were directly involved in the fight though, the fight ran much deeper than that.

Soon after Black Widow's challenge was issued and Fury's maids appeared on national TV to accept on her behalf, the others at the J.L.E. received a call from Zeke, informing them that Bad Horse and the others at E.L.E. were planning on attacking them at the fight too. Three Leagues were going to turn up to a fight that was meant to be between two women changed by the same man and radioactive dove. The media were going to have no idea what hit them.

As the fight was scheduled for another three weeks' time, everyone at the J.L.E. spent all of their spare time training. Pummeler was actually stronger than most people realised and could deliver a punch that could knock Billy square across the room (and the first time, it had). Penny worked on controlling her flames until she could make them as small or as large as she wanted. Fury and her maids worked on their coordination, throwing incendiary rice, poisoned flower bouquets, or the ball at the end of her chain at various targets throughout the room. Moist was knocked out twice by the ball on the chain and spent most of his time dodging Fury and her maids, which incidentally worked on his stamina, cardio, and response times.

Zeke had finally admitted to Jack and Jordan that he no longer wanted to be part of the E.L.E. and was now living at the J.L.E. headquarters when he was certain that they no longer wanted to talk to him. He sang a variety of emotions, affecting everyone in the training room until they were crying, laughing, or feeling a murderous rage that made Penny almost burn down half of the room. Curiously, Fury wasn't affected by the latter song, and Penny nudged them to work together to find out why. They eventually came to the conclusion that she already felt that way and couldn't be induced into feeling it again.

Blue tripped over a small hole that the incendiary rice had caused, falling to the ground and twisting her ankle. The other three maids and Fury were by her side in a moment, and Zeke followed Fury over, hoping to help and not get killed for his efforts. Blue protested that she was fine, nothing was broken, and she could really walk on her own. The other three maids seemed to realise that she was trying to get Zeke and Fury together for all of their sakes (him living in the building definitely wasn't helping things), and New argued with Blue's protest, saying that they had to leave straight away to put ice on her ankle. In a matter of minutes, the five women and Zeke were up in Fury's apartment, the four maids not-so-subtly disappearing from sight a moment later.

_You deserve a wedding night, just like every other bride_, Borrowed informed her, ignoring the feelings of betrayal that Fury projected to them.

The betrayal lessened at her words and Fury blushed brightly.

"Are you all right, Ms. Leika?" Zeke asked, seeing her red cheeks and hoping that whatever had happened to her maid hadn't transferred to Fury too.

"Fine," she said shortly.

He gave a nod and stepped back, going to leave.

"Wait, Zeke," Fury called, wishing she didn't feel quite so nervous about all of this. "Could you... Could you sing to me again?"

"Certainly, Ms. Leika. What would you like me to sing?" he asked, taking his hat off and setting it down on the table beside him.

"The first song you sang to me," Fury said, hoping that her meaning was clear enough for the Chorus singer.

"You mean... I thought you hated all men?" he asked warily.

"I found and killed Ira, I think it loosened me up a bit towards the whole 'hating all of mankind' thing. Now it's more of a 'hate most of mankind, tolerate some men, and really like one man'," she admitted, trying to smile and probably grimacing instead.

"Ah," Zeke murmured. "Well, then, Ms. Leika. You know the saying, don't you?"

A hundred different sayings raced through her head and she tried to think of one that fit their current conversation unsuccessfully. She shook her head, watching him curiously as he made his way over to her. Fury was kind of proud that she didn't lash out and hit or kick him anyway.

"The saying is '_save a horse; ride a cowboy_'," Zeke said, grinning down at her.

He tilted her chin up to him slowly, waiting to see if she was sincere about this. Zeke waited a moment too long for her and Fury kissed him, her arms winding around his neck as if someone had just announced that he could kiss the bride. Zeke grinned against her lips and kissed her back eagerly. In the corner, New and Blue were trying not to blush while Borrowed and Old chuckled to each other. They ushered the younger two maids out before following them, leaving their bride with Zeke.

...

"We come to you live from the battlefield. Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past four weeks, you'll know that Fury Leika has been challenged by the Bloody Widow. Well, today's the day, and we're all curious to see how this girl-fight will pan out," the male news anchor said, looking out to the field behind him.

"And it's about time, too. It's been a new level of Hell waiting for this one! There seems to be a lot of spectators for today's fight, although I am curious as to why they've all worn matching clothing. Maybe we'll ask them later if there's a reason," the female news anchor added, giving her co-anchor a smile as he laughed.

The camera panned out, showing the large number of purple, violet and indigo-coloured cars making a semi-circle around the edge of the field. Each car was accompanied by people clad in similar colours, and there was a murmur in the news team that the Purple Pimp himself was somewhere in the crowd. It was thought, but definitely not said, that the Indigo Mafia were all there to ensure that the victor knew exactly who funded their League; the notoriety of the Indigo Mafia's loan sharks was well known through the super and civilian communities, after all. The presence of the Indigo Mafia kept the civilians away, and even the news reporters were further away from the field than they might have been otherwise.

"The Justice League of Justice's entourage has arrived, and in one of these cars, Bloody Widow sits. How do you think she's feeling?" he asked his co-anchor.

The camera turned to capture the procession of multitudes of cars driving down the dirt road, a stretch red limousine bringing up the rear. Red Dwarf's signature car never left without him in it, so that meant that the leader of the Justice League of Justice really was attending today's fight.

"I'm sure that Bloody Widow's nervous; it is her first fight in public, after all, and Fury Leika's never lost," she replied. "Of course, to have Red Dwarf here must mean that he's sure she'll win the fight, so there's nothing to be nervous about," she added.

"Let's hope that's true; we're too close to the action to survive Fury Leika winning," he said, a little nervous now.

The red limousine came to a stop, Bloody Widow stepping out gracefully. Red Dwarf followed her, and they both waved over to the cameras before turning to the rest of the J.L.J. members that were pouring out of the other cars.

"Unless Red Dwarf's here to make sure that Bloody Widow doesn't lose?" she mused aloud, her colleagues blanching at the thought of Fury Leika winning.

She would be safe as the only woman in the news team, but all of the others would be at Fury's mercy, and as they all knew, she had none when it came to men.

"All of Fury Leika's previous opponents have been men. I'm curious to see how this fight will... Where are you all going?" she called, hurrying after her co-anchor and the rest of the news team as they high-tailed it for their vans.

Her co-anchor was on the phone by the time she reached the car, demanding that their news station send out a news chopper, as they were all leaving so Fury Leika wouldn't kill them.

"Brad, isn't that Bad Horse's trailer?" she asked, looking over to the new series of cars arriving.

Her co-anchor swore loudly, pulled her into the car and yelled at the driver to leave. There was no hesitation from their driver, and they flew past Bad Horse's arriving car, driven by a sombre and sober Jack.

"We'll probably see Zeke today, stop looking so glum," Jordan said.

"Yeah, he'll be on the other side; what if we have to fight him?" Jack asked, parking the car.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Jordan said eventually, not liking the thought in the slightest.

There was a loud impatient neigh from the trailer on the back and they both hurried out to help Bad Horse out of his trailer before he broke it to pieces again. Snake Bite, Tie-Die, Professor Normal, Fake Thomas Jefferson, and Dead Bowie were waiting to the side, talking quietly and ignoring the J.L.J. members who were standing over in their own area of the field, someone holding a parasol over Bloody Widow's head.

"_Give 'em the old razzle dazzle,  
>Razzle dazzle 'em.<br>Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it,  
>And the reaction will be passionate.<br>Give 'em the old hocus pocus,  
>Bead and feather 'em;<br>How can they see with sequins in their eyes_?"

The blaring music had everyone looking over to see a bright pink car heading towards the battlefield, followed by a car that looked like it hadn't been driven since the 1970's. The odd wheezing noise it made was even louder than the music, something that the J.L.J. members seemed to find hilarious, Red Dwarf laughing loudest. Jordan and Jack just found it depressing that the former members of E.L.E. couldn't afford a better car - _they used to own convertibles, for evil's sake_!

"THAT'S IT! I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE! GIVE ME THE CD RIGHT NOW! MOVE IT, PUMMELER!"

The pink car came to a sudden stop and a bright flash was seen in the sunlight as a CD was Frisbee'd out of the window. There was a small howl of anguish and Pummeler shot out of the car to try and find his current favourite CD. Moist, Zeke and Billy stepped out of the car, Moist's chest heaving, and the J.L.J. members' laughter increasing. There was a loud bang as the car following Pummeler's backfired, and Bloody Widow let out a small shriek of fear, the noise echoed by a startled Bad Horse. The car slowed to a stop and didn't look like it was going to move any time soon.

"I _hate_ that song, I _hate_ that movie, I _hate_ that CD. I am going to snap the disc if he ever finds it!" Moist snarled.

"You realise that you're about to step above your henchman status over a song, Moist?" Billy said with a grin.

"I don't care! I might get enough money to buy Pummeler noise-cancelling headphones then," he muttered.

Billy ignored him, going to the car that had followed Pummeler's and helped open Penny's door. Kiev's car wasn't in the best shape and the passenger door had the tendency to stick, but it was large enough to hold all six women. Kiev refused to come, saying that he would have a feast ready for their return, whether it was a celebratory or losing one, he didn't mind. It took Billy a minute to free Penny, Fury, and her maids, but they were all out of the car seconds after the door gave way, fanning themselves with pink cheeks.

"The air conditioner didn't work, and the windows wouldn't budge," Penny explained.

"So much for arriving in style," Fury muttered, looking grateful when Borrowed produced a delicate white fan for her.

"It's all right, it looks like the news chopper hasn't arrived yet," Moist said, looking up to the sky.

"So how does this start? You just walk up to her and start fighting, or is there some sort of announcement?" Penny asked curiously, glancing from Fury to Bloody Widow.

Pummeler returned from his hunt, proudly holding the _Chicago_ soundtrack. He held it out of reach when Moist made a grab for it, the damp man muttering about snapping the CD to pieces when this was all over.

"There's usually an announcement about who's fighting and which League they represent, with both leaders of the Leagues agreeing to certain terms. We'll wait for the chopper though; the media hate it when they arrive in the middle of a fight," Fury said.

"Ah, all right... Who's our leader?" Penny asked.

"Me," Fury and Billy said at the same time.

Their one word response resulted in a ten minute argument, ending only when Penny stopped Fury's maids from trying to kill Billy.

"That's more than enough from all of you! Fury, you should know better! And Billy, stop acting like a child! You're both adults and we are trying to look professional here!"

Fury and Billy glared at each other for a moment longer, then both relented and looked to her.

"You," they said together.

"What?" Penny asked, her stern expression giving way to confusion.

"You're the leader of J.L.E.," Billy explained.

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, Penny," Fury added, nodding in confirmation.

Penny was touched, and wanted to say or do something to express that, but the news chopper finally came into view. The three Leagues immediately straightened themselves up and looked threatening.

"We're back at the battlefield, ladies and gentlemen," the male news anchor announced.

"It looks like the fight hasn't started yet. I told you we had enough time for a coffee break," the female anchor said with a grin.

"So you did," he agreed, returning her smile a little reluctantly. "The announcements and fight's conditions are about to be agreed upon. Let's lower the microphone down to hear better."

Red Dwarf waited patiently as the microphone was lowered out of the helicopter - it seemed the news crew had done this before - and Penny waited about a metre away from him, hoping she looked like a proper leader of a League.

...

Kiev had already started cooking his feast for the J.L.E.'s return later that day when his phone rang. He glared over at the offending device, but supposed it was good that he'd just finished washing and drying his hands, and it hadn't rung five minutes ago when his hands were covered in flour.

"Justice League of Evil, this is Kiev," he answered.

"Yes, I know. This is Hourglass," the clipped voice informed him. "When I offer a service - especially one that's free - I actually expect people to use it. All of this could have been avoided if they actually used my service instead of waiting! You're going to listen to me very carefully, Kiev. What's going to happen today doesn't have to be the end. You need to collect the diamond and gather the components for Wonderflonium. They're in Dr. Horrible's secret lab, but I can get you in there."

"Uh, okay, that's great. What are you talking about?"

Hourglass sighed. She sometimes forgot that people had no idea what she was talking about because they didn't know - _didn't see_ - what she did.

"I'll start from the beginning. But you should turn the oven off first and then sit down. This is going to take a while," Hourglass muttered.

Kiev silently lamented the loss of his time - _his spectacular feast would be delayed_! - but did as the seer asked, heading upstairs to sit down and be more comfortable. There was a feeling of foreboding growing in his chest, and Kiev just hoped that his friends would be all right.

...

The conditions had been agreed to, announcements made, and Fury Leika and Bloody Widow flew at each other, barely letting Penny and Red Dwarf get out of the way.

Bloody Widow's veil turned razor-sharp, slicing through the air as easily as it did through skin, as Fury found out. She had a single white lily that emitted a poisonous scent, and if the victim was close enough to smell it, they would be incapacitated for anywhere from a minute to an hour, depending how long they were exposed. Bloody Widow found out that her lily was useless against Fury, who had long been accustomed to her own poisonous bouquet of flowers. Bloody Widow had small vials filled with her collected tears, which the maids discovered were acidic and could actually damage them. (Blue's best heels were ruined, and she'd attacked Bloody Widow with the good heel, managing to stab her in the arm and make her drop the remaining vials of acidic tears. The hole was still growing larger by the second.)

When it looked as though Fury would actually win, handfuls of incendiary rice surrounding a kneeling Bloody Widow, Red Dwarf jumped between them and threw a punch at Fury, her maids appearing to take it for her. Penny let out a cry of outrage - they all knew that the fight would be bigger than advertised, but it was still a surprise to see Red Dwarf fighting before the planned fight had ended. Zeke made it onto the field first, a song already spilling from his lips and making Red Dwarf fall down to his knees. Bad Horse followed onto the field, with Jack and Jordan following him reluctantly. Dr. Horrible ran out after Bad Horse, his Freeze Ray warmed up this time. Moist and Pummeler were challenged by Dead Bowie and Fake Thomas Jefferson, and Moist charged at Dead Bowie when he started humming a song. Pummeler found out that FTJ really was as strong as five men (or three slaves), but he packed a punch of his own, and his gay-dar was going off like crazy with both FTJ and Dead Bowie in his immediate vicinity. A flying disco ball brought Penny's attention to her own opponents, and she glared over at Snake Bite and Tie-Die.

"Where's Professor Normal?" she asked curiously, surprised that he wasn't with the rest of the E.L.E.

"He hasss a parent-teacher conferencccce tonight," Snake Bite replied, shrugging.

"His daughter has her piano recital at the end of the week. He's been driving me mad with his happiness," Tie-Die groused, glaring as if it was all Penny's fault.

"Oh, that's nice!" Penny said cheerily, Tie-Die making a noise of pain at her happiness.

Penny laughed loudly, and across the field, the rest of the J.L.E. laughed along with her (Moist was a bit of a choking laugh through Dead Bowie's persuasive influence). Tie-Die's noise of pain actually turned to a scream. She ran at Penny, throwing a handful of brightly coloured beads at her. Penny turned into flames before the beads could hit her, and she heard them popping in the heat she emitted. Penny moved towards the two women as fast as she could, Snake Bite readying her staff. This time, the disco ball stayed where it was, and the snake moved off the staff towards her. It grew in length and size until it was big enough to swallow all of Penny's fiery form whole. Penny just hoped that it would be as susceptible to fire as Snake Bite was.

Dr. Horrible was watching for his chance to use his Freeze Ray on either Red Dwarf or Bad Horse, his gun aimed at them carefully. It was a ferocious fight between the two; Bad Horse's death whinny missing Red Dwarf by inches, or being reflected by an odd red light that seemed to emit from his hands, and Bad Horse rising back on his hind legs to dodge Red Dwarf's hard fists.

"We don't want to fight you, Zeke. Just apologise, Bad Horse will understand," Jordan said.

"You know that's not true, Jordan. If you don't want to fight me, then don't fight me! Stop putting Bad Horse's needs before your own, and sing for yourself! Sing with me again," Zeke pleaded.

"We can't, Zeke. You know we can't survive out there on our own," Jack said.

"Yes, you can. Please, don't make me do this," Zeke begged.

"We've got no choice," Jordan said, shaking his head. He took a deep breath and began to sing.

Zeke groaned in pain, but managed to get his voice back long enough to respond with a song of his own, and he watched with no satisfaction as Jordan and Jack fell to their knees. Conflict Diamond moved forward to knock the two Chorus members out with his club, but was hit with a bouquet of poison flowers by an irate New, and he dropped to the ground, unconscious. Blue and Borrowed were dealing with Bait and Switch behind them, gagging the women with veils and tying them with chains.

"Thanks, New. Only I'm allowed to hurt them," Zeke muttered.

"They're not even part of the E.L.E.; they just came to fight," New said, rolling her eyes.

"How's Fury going?"

"Not bad; Betty's an amateur compared to Fury, but she's gotten in a few good shots," New admitted.

The song was wearing off Jordan and Jack, and they started to struggle, trying to get to their feet again. Zeke shook his head and started singing again, New leaving to help Old and Fury.

There was a loud noise of a ray gun firing, and everyone stopped for a moment to see Bad Horse and Red Dwarf both frozen, Dr. Horrible standing behind them looking a little shocked that it had worked without exploding. Then his shock gave way to glee and he started to freeze everyone else as well; Conflict Diamond, Bait and Switch, Dead Bowie, Fake Thomas Jefferson, Tie-Die and Snake Bite, and turned on Bloody Widow. She was ready for him and flung her black veil out at Dr. Horrible even as he pressed the trigger to fire.

Penny had changed back to her human form the moment Tie-Die and Snake Bite were frozen, and she watched in horror as Bloody Widow's razor-sharp veil sliced through the air towards Billy, her Billy-buddy, her Dr. Horrible. She became a trail of flames in a heartbeat and streaked over to him as fast as she could. Penny forced herself into her human form in time to see the veil fluttering in the wind. It actually moved around her only to stab directly into Billy's chest.

He seemed surprised at the development, his eyes wide as he looked at Penny, his legs giving out on him. Billy dropped to the ground, his hand on his chest in confusion, blood seeping out of the hole that led directly to his heart. Penny moved down to him quickly, words caught in her throat.

"Billy? Oh. Billy. Billy," she sobbed.

"Penny? Is that you?" he asked, unsure of the red-coloured blur was his girlfriend or not.

_Was breathing and talking always this difficult? At least his chest wasn't hurting anymore_.

"Billy. Hold on. Oh no, oh no, no, no, no.

"Are you all right?

"Hold on."

"It's okay; it's okay," he said softly, trying to reassure her.

He tried to smile again, but that seemed too much.

"Bad Horse will save us."

His eyes closed for the final time and she realised belatedly that she was crying, each tear drop hitting against Billy's cheek louder than a thunderclap to her ears. Across the field, the frozen heroes and villains became unfrozen once more, but Penny was oblivious to the fight that started up as easily as it had stopped. Her whole body shook, each sob racking through her. Penny closed Billy's eyes gently, her body stiff and her eyes fierce as a fire raged inside her.

"No, Billy. This time **I'll** save us. I'll save us all," she whispered fiercely.

Penny let Billy's body slide to the blood-stained ground and stood up, her back straight and her face surprisingly calm. She looked out at the battlefield, Moist and Pummeler being driven back by Fake Thomas Jefferson; Dead Bowie was actually dead now, but she didn't stop to wonder how it had happened; Bloody Widow got in a few too many lucky shots, and Fury Leika was surrounded by her maids as she bled out onto the ground; Red Dwarf and Bad Horse were still struggling for power over the other; Zeke dying between Jack and Jordan, having taken Bloody Widow's last remaining vial of acidic tears for Fury; and on the edge of the field Penny could see the Indigo Mafia gathered, coldly waiting to see who the victors would be without interfering themselves. High above them, the news chopper was still hovering and she glared at it, a small fire beginning in the engine. It started to fly away, and Penny returned her attention to the field of her dying friends.

Pure raw emotion enveloped her on seeing her friends dying before her eyes, Billy's dead body already at her feet. Penny burst into flames that were so bright and hot that Bad Horse actually whinnied in fear. She moved forward, a fire spreading through the field in a matter of seconds to surround all of them, the Indigo Mafia included. Their cars exploded as the heat reached the gas tanks, and there were screams of surprise and fear as they moved further onto the field to get away from the fiery masses of metal and the large flames. The fire followed as everyone moved closer together, creating a large thick circle of fire that surrounded them all.

Bad Horse's death whinny was useless on her. Red Dwarf couldn't handle her heat to throw her. Bloody Widow's veil melted the moment it came in contact with her fiery form. Even if he'd been alive, Dead Bowie's persuasion powers would have been pointless with no body to actually persuade. FTJ didn't even try to use his strength against her. Moist and Pummeler were trembling as they stared at her, the former sweating profusely and the latter bleeding from a large gash that ran from his forehead down to his chin. Fury and her maids just watched, Old, New, Borrowed, Blue each shimmering and disappearing into Fury as she continued to die with each passing breath.

Penny was aware of each of them on some level, even as she was aware that Billy's body was burning up in her flames, and she was using too much power for this to go on for much longer. She gathered up the last of her power, the flames creeping closer inch by inch. The last of Billy's body was consumed by her flames and then Penny filled the circle until they were all enveloped by her flames completely.

She blocked out the sound of their screams of agony, moving what little was left of her own form towards Fury. The bride seemed to realise that she was moving to her and managed a smile, even as her dress burned and her eyes glassed over as the fire bit at her body. Penny tried to lessen the intensity of the flames, but they were already too far out of her control and she was exhausted.

"It's okay, Penny. I was never going to survive this fight anyway. Lived longer than most villains, not bad for a manicurist from Queens," Fury said with a short laugh.

Her laugh cut short as her heart stopped, and Penny spared a moment to mourn the passing of her friend. In the flames, she was almost sure she could see Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue standing guard over their bride.

Despite her exhaustion and lessening power, the fire raged for an hour, Penny slipping in and out of consciousness. She heard the firetruck arrive sometime later, but refused to let them put out the flames. She used more of her energy to keep the flames going, burning brighter each time the firefighters tried to turn their hoses on her. Penny could almost see the flames reaching up towards the sky, and as she felt her consciousness slowly fading - for the final time, she knew it - she lessened the flames until there was nothing but a few embers remaining. Her final thought was of Billy, and how she would have liked to go with him to the laundromat for one last time, sitting side by side on the washing machines as they ate their frozen yoghurts together.

The fire was gone, leaving behind nothing but empty hulks of metal and the ashes of the city's villains, heroes, and those somewhere in-between. In the midst of it all, there lay a flawless diamond sparkling in the fading sunlight.

...

End of Act VIII, pt. 2.

...

**Author's note:** Thank you very much for reading! This really is the end of the Dr. Horrible continuation. I hope you've enjoyed reading the story as much as I have writing it, and keep an eye out for a possible sequel!

Thank you again to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate them all.


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